One Door Closes, Another One Opens
by Vedra42
Summary: They never wanted her in their world and now her enemies had a chance to do something about it. Being a war hero wounldn't be of any help. Forced from the Wizarding world Hermione would have to recreate her life as a muggle. She thought her life of adventure was over until her new occupation has her facing a foe more powerful than any Dark Lord.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All recognizable Harry Potter characters, places, etc. belong to JK Rowling. The recognizable Stargate characters, place, etc. belong to MGM, Scifi and the creators Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright. Dialogue borrowed from the episode "The Curse."

A/N: This story is cannon compliant through most of DH, but has slight differences which will become clear over the course of the story. I would also like to thank my beta Periculum for all her help with this story.

_Bum Bump, Bum Bump _

_Bum Bump, Bum Bump _

_Just breathe, in and out there is nothing to it. In and out. In and out. In and- 'Oh Merlin, I hope I don't throw-up.' _

_Bum Bump _

_She had to get herself together. She was Hermione Granger the 'brightest witch of her age,' member of the Order of the Phoenix, a war hero, and that was the problem. _

_She was a threat. _

_A threat to those who wanted to sweep everything under the rug, all those who turned a blind eye to Voldemort's activities and who were now clamoring into the spotlight with tales of fighting on the front line. If everyone who claimed to be at the Final Battle had actually been there, she didn't think everyone would have fit into the building, even one as large as Hogwarts. But she didn't want to think about that. It was a night she wished to forget, but knew would haunt her til the day she died. _

_So many gone- _

_Without the support of more survivors it was open season for the Ministry to go after her. Old adversaries were coming out of hiding spreading untruths or twisting facts to paint her as a potential threat to the Ministry. _

_Hermione sat with her hands shackled trying not to let her nerves overtake her. She just needed to calm herself, but her heart refused to listen and continued to race in her chest. The clamor outside her cell once again swelled as the end of another trial brought the Aurors trudging into the holding area. Another Death Eater had been sentenced to Azkaban. The trials themselves were almost jokes, a mere formality, a warm-up for the main event of the day, since those being tried were open supporters of the former Dark Lord. _

_Feeling claustrophobic, she began to fidget in the chains securing her. Trying to stretch she wished she could at least pace before her legs lost all feeling. After being trapped in the confined space for the better part of a week her whole body was suffering from inactivity and lack of food. _

_She had to get out of here. The walls were closing in. _

_Bum Bump, Bum Bump _

_Bum Bump, Bum- _

_With a bang the door opened down the hall causing ice to shoot through her veins. The racket was increased tenfold with shouts of jeering as the guilty party was dragged off. Her resolve was wearing as the minutes continued to tick by and the noise of the courtroom keep increasing as seats filled. She could feel the bloodlust of the mob transmitted through the very floor boards themselves into her bones as time ticked on. _

_Bum Bump, Bum Bump, _

_Tick, _

_Bum Bump, Bum Bump, Bum Bump, _

_Tick, Bum Bump- _

_Gasping she choked back what could have been called a laugh she tried to concentrate on breathing again and not thinking about why she was here. It didn't work and the maniacal laughter rung out ending in a sob which left her panting for air. It shouldn't be funny, but it was. _

_Hermione Granger was being bought up on charges of war crimes, a decidedly Muggle concept that the Ministry normally would not give the time of day, except that they were trying to discredit her by any means. Which included sullying their pureblood morals with a muggle idea. _

_With most of the Order either dead or incapacitated, she had no one left to defend her against these outrageous charges. With the Boy-Who-Lived in a coma at the hospital the Ministry was taking advantage of his inability to contradict any of their press statements, and why would he? According to The Ministry, Harry Potter regularly called upon them for help in his quest to defeat Voldemort. In fact the newly reinstated Minister Cornelius Fudge himself was rumored to personally have assisted the hero in finding the spell used to defeat the Dark Lord. _

_The two-faced-secretly-supporting-Voldemort-while-screwing-over-the-Ministry Officials were now trying to save their own hides. Leading the charge was Senior Undersecutary to the Minister Dolores Umbridge and best-selling author of the newly released "The Rise and Fall of The Dark Lord: The Strategy for Victory Hatched by Harry Potter and the Ministry" was Rita Skeeter. Their propaganda campaign was fueled with one goal in mind. Keeping the public from turning their retaliatory minds against the Ministry. Their one obstacle, Hermione Granger. Both women had encountered her before and lost. As long as she was in the public's esteem, she would be a threat. It was just a matter of time before she would begin to push for the Ministry to be held accountable for their actions in the war. _

_What then began was a systematic plan to disparage her role in the war. While they couldn't deny she fought alongside Harry, they had begun to portray her as someone tainted by Dark Magic. Who in the course of assisting in the defeat of the Dark Lord harnessed a massive amount of destructive power she could barely control. Did they really want someone of questionable ethics who possessed a history of believing themselves above the law walking among the populace? A girl who was known_

_to manipulate even her friends with potions and spells? One with the potential she had already displayed by almost leveling Hogwarts with the backlash of one spell? Surely it was the duty of the Ministry to prevent any chance of another Dark Lord coming to power. _

_The door was again opened and several Aurors marched down the hall to her cell and stopped. _

_"It is time."_

_Taking a deep breath, she stood on shaking legs indicating that she was ready. Being ushered down the hall to the courtroom she could hear the excited mummers swell as she stepped into view. The guards made sure to secure her to a waiting chair before falling back. _

_The banging of a gavel quieted the crowd and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge began to read the charges "Hermione Granger is hereby charged with the use of an Unforgivable, aiding and abetting a criminal, two counts of kidnapping, three counts child endangerment, five counts murder, six counts assault, two counts coercion, seven counts breaking and entering, and damaging private property in excess of 85,000 galleons. How do you plead?"_

_For a moment complete silence enveloped the room as Percy Weasley stood and in his most self important tone said "Not guilty." She felt like she was trying to swim up river against the current. They had no chance. Despite Percy's best efforts it was clear the prosecution had used its overwhelming resources to build up a case that was hard to refute. _

_"It was to your understanding that you had no other choice, but to sneak Miss Granger into the place of your former employment Mr. Griphook?" _

_"I have here the report on file in your office that says the defendant attacked a former teacher and assisted in the escape of a known criminal from-"_

_As the trail progressed character witness after character witness was rolled out to rip apart any shred of doubt the jury had that Hermione was straying from all that was good. _

_"Miss Edgecomb, could you please tell the court what happened to your face?" _

_"-and Mr. Lovegood you were still inside your residence when Miss Granger proceeded to bring it down around you?"_

_"Are you asserting that the defendant kept you imprisoned in a jar and then proceeded to blackmail you for over a year which directly impeded your livelihood, Miss Skitter?"_

_"Has your imprisonment by the centaurs affected your health in any other way, Miss. Umbridge?"_

_"It is your testimony that you saw the defendant strike a fellow student across the face-" _

_"-and you are sure that it was Miss Granger who broke into the vault, escaping on the back of a dragon causing damages estimated in excess of-"_

_Every little incident no matter how small or what mitigating circumstances involved was brought forward to show that Hermione thought herself above the law. From her slapping Malfoy in third year, to her recent rampage of crime thru the country. Most charges were unsubstantiated and would no doubt be thrown out, but that was not the point. _

_Public support was against her and the Ministry wanted her out of the way. Percy gave a valiant attempt, but it was too much. _

_"The fact that Miss Granger helped in the defeat of the Dark Lord V-Voldemort and therefore had mitigating circumstances as to the justification for her actions has been taken into consideration by this court. The charges of murder, aiding and abetting, one count kidnapping, three counts child endangerment, one count assault, and three counts breaking and entering are dropped. On the remaining charges the defense has not offered conclusive evidence to refute the charges. It is therefore the findings of this court that the defendant Hermione Granger is guilty of the kidnap and coercion of one Rita Skeeter; assault of Draco Malfoy, Marietta Edgecombe, Severus Snape and two counts assault against Dolores Umbridge; the coercion of Mr. Griphook; the break in of the Lovegood residence, Gringotts and two counts break in of the Ministry; damage to private property and the use of an unforgivable... It must be noted though that Azkaban holds many who wish ill toward the defendant and therefore has been deemed as unable to accommodate her for a prolonged prison sentence. It is the ruling of this court that Hermione Granger is henceforth exiled from the territory of Great Britain for life, her wand to be snapped and use of a magical inhibitor be administered to combat any wandless magic. Aurors will escort her as she has 24 hours to depart or be executed."_

7 Years Later

Looking out of the window as the plane began to propel down the runway of Cairo International Airport, Hermione thought about how much her life had changed.

Never when she walked the halls of Hogwarts on her way back to the dormitory after studying in the library did she think that it would all be for nothing. All those hours spent studying, perfecting her spell work, memorizing Goblin wars, trying to prove that she deserved to be there. It had all turned out to be a complete waste.

It was a thought that had constantly haunted her throughout her first year of exile. It had taken a tremendous effort on her and her parents part to be able to get her back into the Muggle education system. She was already eighteen and should have been starting university, but subjects of transfiguration, charms and potions had to first be substituted for math, science and literature classes.

In hindsight, it had probably helped that she did not have the distraction of Harry or Ron. She was able to let her full bookworm nature take over and not fill guilty over ignoring her friends, not that she was grateful at the time. Added to that where the explanations over her odd test results and how the promising young student she had once been had not taken the opportunities to already be enrolled in the top schools.

It was no wonder that her parents had forbidden any discussion over the topic of the magical community again. She had been screwed over in a big way, and consequently so had her parents. When Dumbledore was openly killed on school grounds the Order had personally helped to relocate her parents and convince them to leave her behind to fight. They had already begun to resettle back into her childhood home and piece together the remains of their dental practice when she had been arrested. The news of her exile had been devastating to them.

She was left in a position of having to start over with her education, move out of the country and leave her parents behind, who were in no economic position to be able to follow her. Their once close relationship begun to crumble with the pressure to reform their lives and they had slowly began to resent her for even being born a witch.

The plane bounced as they hit some turbulence and forced her to snap out of her memories. Noticing that the flight attendant was coming with the drink cart she placed her serving tray in the down position to rest a coffee on. Grimacing took a sip of the bitter brew. At heart she still English enough to prefer tea, but she needed the caffeine.

Grabbing her carry-on she retrieved the enhanced photos of the temple walls from the dig site. Frowning she once again tried to decipher the obscure hieroglyphs. A few symbols she recognized or were close enough that she could hazard a guess. Reliable translations from the first two dynasties were tricky at the best of times and few even in the academic community took the time to learn the precursor system of traditional hieroglyphics.

_Osiris...Isis...trapped...the heavens...war...Seth...betrayed...Ra...hidden...escape... _

The pictures were of a previously unexplored section of a site last explored in 1931. She had become interested in the area when she had come across reports of a supposed curse that had killed everyone from the expedition within a year of the excavation. It had been attributed to mold spores, but being a witch she remained skeptical.

Hermione had jumped into her Muggle education using her anger as fuel and in the process finished her studies in a year staying with an old college friend of her parents in Australia. The rapid pace she had set allowed Hermione to be accepted into the prestigious University of Rome. Finishing a double major in two years in Egyptology and Occult Studies with a minor in Ancient Languages had catapulted her into obtaining a master at the Sorbonne in Paris followed by a PhD. From there she had attended the University of Cairo to receive another PhD. It was a great opportunity at a premier school where she got to work with some of the top experts in the field and be allowed access to the governments closely guarded artifacts.

Despite all those connections, she had still been unable to gain access to the site until recently. It was agreed she would be allowed limited access only after accepting a faculty position at the school. In spite of her past desire to teach she no longer wished to be encumbered to a desk job, but there was no other way to gain access to the site unless she was tied to the school. Being exiled had made her far too restless to remain in one place too long, but the mystery of the Stevart Expedition had her bite the bullet. Something was driving her to find out more about the site, a deep seated instinct telling her it was very import to discover its secrets.

It was the same feeling which had led her to pursue a study of Ancient Egypt at university. Her passion for history combined with a natural curiosity had made her a diligent researcher. Ancient Egypt was a mystery waiting to be unraveled, its history both Muggle and Magical remaining mostly unknown.

At the moment, she was flying half way around the world to Northwestern University to examine the newly recovered artifacts from the expedition. They had been recovered from the ship which had sunk off the coast of New Jersey transporting the cargo back to the states. She was hoping to find more samples of the writing with the collection. While she had already concluded that no magical curse had been set on the site it had proved fruitful in other ways.

Hermione continued to study the photos hoping to get some hint of their meaning. It was there she just had to think. Leaning back she tried to let her mind work out the puzzle. The writing was unlike any she had previously encountered. Why had it been used in that location? Where did it come from?

The pilot announcing the decent into Charles de Gaulle in Paris distracted her from any further ruminating on the subject. After landing Hermione made her way thru customs and onto the next flight to New York JFK airport followed by another connection before hitting Chicago.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All recognizable Harry Potter characters, places, etc. belong to JK Rowling. The recognizable Stargate characters, place, etc. belong to MGM, Scifi and the creators Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright. Dialogue borrowed from the episode "The Curse."

A/N: I would once again like to thank my beta Periculum for all her help with this story. I am also not an archaeologist or an expert in Ancient Egyptian and the theories about translations are purely guess work (and most likely complete nonsense).

Rushing out of the hotel, Hermione got into her rental and merged with the morning traffic. She still felt jet-lagged, but hoped that the complimentary continental breakfast would help fix that. Reading the directions she had received from the administrator, she slowly made her way to the campus.

Pulling her light jacket closed against the morning chill, she grabbed her bag from the car and made her way to the main office. It was the beginning of spring, but a noticeable cool wind could still be felt coming off the lake. It was a nice change from the desert heat of Cairo she had become accustomed to.

Giving her name to the clerk, she was met with a friendly undergrad who would be escorting her to Dr. Jordan's office. Taking an interest in her companion's conversation about the school and its history, Hermione tried to relax and not think about the upcoming meeting.

Archaeologists were notoriously competitive and territorial about their work. She knew that her presence would be threatening to the team already at work on the collection. It also wouldn't be taken kindly that she was coming from Egypt, whose government had already set a deadline for the return of the artifacts. Her age didn't help either, but she hoped they wouldn't be too patronizing.

Entering a building, her escort led her to an office at the end of the hall. Sitting behind the desk was a white haired man in his mid-fifties. His sweater and khakis gave him the typical professor appearance, but a deep tan offset the impression that he spent all his time behind a desk. Standing he greeted the pair, "Dr. Granger, it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope Julia gave you ten cent tour."

"It's an honor to meet you, Dr. Jordan and don't worry, Miss O'Brien was a brilliant guide." Hermione said courteously.

Dr Jordan nodded. "Good, very good. Thank you, Julia. I'll see you in class later." Sensing the dismissal, the girl turned to leave, closing the door behind her. Turning his attention back to Hermione, Dr Jordan continued, "Now, lets get down to business, Dr. Granger. I understand that you have been researching the Stevart Expedition for some time now."

"That's correct, sir. I have spent the better part of the last year trying to gain access to the original excavation site. So far I have only begun the initial survey of the chamber. I'm waiting on the chemical tests of several samples to determine if any of the hazardous mold spores remain. I have been able to take some photos of the chamber and have found some unusual carvings on the walls, which appear to be an obscure form of writing. I haven't had much luck in the translation so far and would like to see if any pieces of your collection may provide a larger text sample." Staring at Dr. Jordan, she knew his interest was piqued.

Sitting forward in his chair, Dr. Jordan gave her an assessing look before asking, "Do you have any copies of this writing?"

Giving him her own searching look, she pulled out some of the photos she had taken, "As you can see, it shares distinct similarities with the hieroglyphs of the second dynasty, but displays ideogrammatic elements previously unrecorded. My guess would be a divergent regional dialect of the time, since the symbols remain closely related to other writings of the period."

"Fascinating. I've never seen the like before. How have you gone about getting a translation?" Dr. Jordan enquired, curiously.

Pointing to several symbols on the image, Hermione replied, "If you look closely," prompting the professor to take out a magnifying glass, "there are several key similarities to other writings we have recovered during this period. The unknown symbols used have elements of the ones used in later periods, but don't necessarily fit into the context of the rest of the text. By comparing the root of each glyph and cross-referencing others which developed from the same base symbol, I'm hoping to find something more workable. If I can find any more of this writing amongst the collection it could give me a large enough sample to finishing a translation."

Looking up from the photos, Hermione caught the ghost of a smile Dr. Jordan was giving her. Noticing her look, he let out a small chuckle, "Forgive me, Dr. Granger, but I have not had the pleasure of seeing someone with such an intuitive feel for the subject matter in a long time. I have to admit I was uncertain about having you come all the way here and not waiting for the artifacts to be sent back to Egypt."

Smiling now, Hermione replied, "You mean that you were reluctant to allow a young upstart to come charging into your domain and mess up the whole investigation."

Dr Jordan was equally candid. "Actually, that was only part of the concern. I have spoken with some of your old professors and they have all expressed that while you are a capable researcher, you have had problems working on teams in the past. They conveyed you seemed to keep yourself at a distance, preferring to conceal your own opinions until the very last."

Uncomfortable, Hermione tried to change the subject. "Well, I'm not too sure if that's wholly accurate."

Noticing her discomfort, Dr. Jordan brushed it aside for the time. "How about we head down to the lab and you can take a look," he asked rhetorically. "My colleagues, Dr. Gardner and Dr. Rayner, should be finishing up the preliminary scans."

As they strolled down to the lab, the professor continued to explain what work had been done so far. The artifacts were in remarkably good condition for having been stuck at the bottom of the ocean for seventy years. It was hard to say if anything was missing, as the original inventory report might have inaccuracies. The 1930's had been a dodgy time, and it wasn't uncommon for something of value to have been pilfered by a less than trustworthy worker.

The lab was a typically generic set-up with boxes strewn across all the available surfaces. The two occupants of the room, a man and woman, seemed to be arguing as they approached. Breaking up the conversation, Dr. Jordan made the introductions before excusing himself to go meet his next class.

The woman, Dr. Sarah Gardner, who appeared to be in her mid-thirties and had a head of curly blonde hair, seemed to be friendly enough, even through the initial wariness Hermione's presence caused. The other occupant of the room, Dr. Steven Rayner, was very combative and seemed to be trying not to outright insult her. The restraint probably had something to do with how he kept surveying her out of the corner of his eye.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Hermione once again had to explain her reason for flying all the way there to examine what had been recovered, and why she hadn't waited for the Egyptian government to reclaim them. She brought out samples of the writing to compare with any inscriptions they had found.

Any wariness Sarah (who waved away the Dr. Gardner, "please call me Sarah; it looks like you will be here for a bit,") had was lost as she delved into the mystery Hermione presented. Dr. Rayner also became very charming all of the sudden. He would stop by the workstation she had set up to observe her progress and discuss any new finds.

She couldn't decide if he was genuinely interested or was using the opportunity to stare down her shirt. Neither left Hermione feeling too inclined towards him. Dr. Rayner seemed to be an "armchair scientist", writing books which merely reiterated other peoples' ideas, with no original material. If he was interested in her work, it could be for less than honest reasons. Although that could just be paranoia and all he was interested in was getting into her pants. Judging by her conversations with Sarah he had been trying to get with her for years.

It was all a bit annoying to Hermione, who had only been able to arrange two weeks leave from her classes to examine the collection.

Making his way out of the cafeteria with a cup of coffee, Daniel made his way back to his lab. At the moment he was working on several translations that SG-6 had brought back from PX-517. Turning a corner, he was met with the sight of his teammate, Jack O'Neill. "Morning."

Looking up from the paper he had been reading, Jack's only response was a distracted, "Hey."

Getting a closer look at the section, Daniel asked, "What's that?"

"Um, this. Teal'c's into this stuff. I don't get it..._A great week is in store for you_...You'll be goin' on a trip." Jack said reading from a horoscope.

"Lemme see that," said Daniel.

"Okay," Jack replied handing the paper over.

Quickly flipping back to the current events section, Daniel felt his insides freeze. "Oh my God," he exclaimed, looking at the headline of the paper.

"What?" Jack asked with some alarm.

In astonishment Daniel replied, "He's dead."

"Who?" A completely confused O'Neill asked.

"My archaeology professor," said Daniel, looking up from the paper in shock.

It was sunny when Dr. Jordan's funeral took place eight days latter. Hermione felt detached from the other mourners. Surrounded by his family, friends and colleagues, it was hard not to feel like an outsider. She had barely known the man, but had come to respect him greatly in that short amount of time.

_She had been approaching the building late at night four days earlier with a midnight snack, when a loud explosion shattered the silence of the campus. Falling to the ground, an icy cold fear began to eat at her insides as she turned to find smoke billowing out of the building she had been headed for. Rushing inside, Hermione was confronted with the still-burning lab and the downpour of the sprinklers' ineffectual attempt to beat back the flames. _

_Covering her mouth to smother her coughs, Hermione searched for Dr. Jordon. Feeling dizzy, she finally found the man and tried to drag him from the room. The heat was stifling and the smoke was choking her. Darkness had been closing in, when arms caught her before she collapsed and she was ushered her out of the building, as another figure grabbed Dr. Jordan. _

_As she was administered oxygen by a paramedic, she watched as the firefighters tried to stop the blaze. Looking over at Dr. Jordan, she could see that her efforts had been in vain. The professor was missing an arm and most of his chest had been seared off. He was declared dead at the scene. _

_Another firefighter approached at that moment, blocking her view. "Ma'am, could you tell me if anyone else was in the building with you?"_

_Shaking her head in the negative, Hermione wheezed out, "Dr. Jordan was the last...I just came back...with coffee."_

_Frowning, he asked, "Do you have any idea what could have caused the explosion?" _

_Again she shook her head in the negative. He asked a few more questions, before she was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. _

Snapping out of her thoughts, Hermione tried to focus on the present. At the moment, Dr. Rayner was giving his eulogy. "Dr. David Jordan was a teacher, a celebrated author, a much revered expert in the field of archaeology, and yet to the end he remained first and foremost a student guided by the simple desire to discover and understand. It's fitting then that a man who dedicated his life to reviving the wonders and majesty of long dead civilizations should himself gain a measure of immortality through that very accomplishment. I worked with Dr. Jordan for close to fifteen years. He was like a father to me. Through his many successes and some of his bitter disappointments, I'll remember him always as a, dedicated archaeologist, a kind and generous man, and a true friend."

As Dr. Rayner finished his eulogy, guests began to approach the coffin to pay their last respects. Hermione felt awkward when her turn came. Despite having lost many people in the war, she had never actually been to a funeral, except for Professor Dumbledore's.

Sensing her unease, Sarah kept close once the service ended. Since the explosion, the older woman had taken the effort to make sure Hermione was alright and could still pursue her research before her deadline was up. It was a sweet gesture, considering that Sarah was grieving over the professors death and trying to keep up with her own work.

Dr. Rayner joined them as another gentleman approached. It was obvious that both her companions knew the man, as they both noticeably stiffened at his presence.

A tone of resentment entered Dr. Rayners voice. "The prodigal son returns." Hermione remained quiet, noticing the air of hostility that had suddenly settled onto the group. She took the time to look over the stranger. He appeared to be about the same age as her companions, perhaps mid-thirties, well-built with brown hair and glasses.

Appearing a little puzzled, the mystery man exclaimed "Steven?" and with a searching look at Dr. Gardner, "Sarah."

With a voice conveying barely controlled emotion, Sarah answered, "Daniel. It's good to see you."

"Yeah. Despite the circumstances." Offered the now named Daniel.

"I know. I still can't believe he's gone," replied Sarah.

Trying to change the subject, Daniel asked, "So. What exactly happened? I mean, uh, the paper I read attributed his death to the Curse of Osiris."

At this point, Dr. Rayner decided to interject. "According to the police, there was a slow gas leak in the lab and something must have caused a spark. The whole place went up, he was killed instantly." Nodding at Hermione, he continued, "Dr. Granger said that the blast was pretty big, but she hadn't noticed any smell of gas early that night."

Noticing his confusion, Sarah made the introductions. "Daniel, I'd like you to meet Dr. Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson. He used to work with Dr. Jordan." Turning back to Daniel, she continued to explain her presence. "Dr. Granger is here working on a research project at the moment. Dr. Jordan was providing another set of hands."

Offering his hand, Daniel said, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Dr. Jackson." Hermione voiced, as they shook hands.

Introductions finished, Sarah turned her focus back on Daniel. "We would've called you, but nobody knew where to find you."

Evasively, Daniel responded, "That's, uh, that's okay."

"I'm glad you're here. So how longs it been? Four years?" Sarah questioned.

"Five." He corrected.

"What've you been up to?" Probed Dr. Rayner.

"Uh, I've been busy," hedged Daniel.

Pushing for him to elaborate, Sarah asked, "Really? I've looked for signs of you out there on the fringes. There've been no papers, no research projects. It's like you fell off the face of the Earth."

Hermione could tell that the continued interrogation was making Dr. Jackson uncomfortable and that he was determined not to give a straight answer. "Yeah, it is a little like that, isn't it?" was his only response.

Dr. Rayner took the opportunity to question Daniel. "As I recall, the last time I saw you, you were giving a lecture to an empty room."

"Oh... yeah, well it was full when I started," he said with a slight smile.

In a disdainful tone, Rayner continued to mock. "Well, maybe the world just wasn't ready to hear that the Pyramids were built by Aliens, or was it men from Atlantis?"

"Steven, please." appealed Sarah, hoping to keep the peace.

"Yes, Steven, please." Repeated an annoyed Daniel.

"You managed to stay away all this time. If you're looking for closure, Daniel, I'd say you're a little late." With that said Dr. Rayner turned and began to walk away.

Daniel called after him "Always a pleasure, Steven."

Giving his full attention back to Sarah, he asked "So are you doing anything?"

"Well, I'm not sure," replied Sarah pointedly turning her gaze to Hermione.

Taking the hint that Sarah wanted some private time with Dr. Jackson, Hermione said, "Well it was nice meeting you, Dr. Jackson, but I need to head back to the campus." Giving Sarah a smile, she added I'll catch up with you later?" Before they knew it, she had already turned and started trudging across the cemetery back to her rental.

On the way back to her car, she thought about the mysterious Dr. Jackson and decided to look him up. His theories sounded interesting and were out of the box enough for her to wonder what else he had found out about the pyramids. Did he know about magic?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I would once again like to thank my beta for all her help with this story.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. This chapter draws heavily from the dialogue from the episode 'The Curse.'

Daniel watched the retreating figure of Dr. Granger before turning his focus back to Sarah, quirking his eyebrow.

"She has a lot of work she needs to compete before her deadline," she said, in answer to his unvoiced query. "Well, it looks like I'm all yours. I'm sorry. He's not usually like that. The last couple of days have been really hard on him." Sarah apologized for her colleague's earlier rudeness.

Startled at the unexpected subject change, it took a moment before Daniel could identify who Sarah was speaking of, "Steven? No, he's right. I should've come back sooner. I guess I was afraid I wouldn't be welcome."

"Are you joking?" replied Sarah. "Even after everything that happened, Dr. Jorden never thought any less of you. You were his best student."

"Yes, who became the laughingstock of the archaeological community."

"He kept hoping you'd find proof. Something to shut everyone up."

With a shake of his head, "No, he thought I was nuts."

"That's not true. Look, why do you think it's so hard for Steven to see you here? He's always been in your shadow. Even after you left."

"I hear his book's on the best-seller list."

"I know. He's getting a Porsche," said Sarah, trying not to laugh.

Daniel, who had no such qualms, let out a chuckle. "I know."

"Look, I have to admit, I thought you didn't come back because of me. We could've ended it better than we did." Sarah said, somberly.

Losing his jovial tone, Daniel replied, "Maybe. The truth is I got caught up in something incredible."

"You found something, didn't you? Something that supports your theory. Tell me. Come on," said an excited Sarah.

Sheepishly, "I can't."

"Daniel!"

Knowing he was not able to tell her the whole truth, Daniel replied captiously, "Okay. Let's just say that what the world knows about ancient Egypt barely scratches the surface. The truth is more incredible than any of us ever imagined."

"Nowthat's the Daniel I remember." Sarah looked around the empty cemetery. "Why don't we get out of here? I want to show you something. I thought you might like to see what we were working on before the accident."

Noticing her excitement, Daniel agreed. It wasn't a hard choice, given his natural curiosity. Since they both had cars, they agreed to drive over to the campus separately and meet up. On the drive over, Daniel took the time to study the subtle changes his old alma mater had undergone since he had last laid eyes on the place.

So much had happened in his life since then. He was a different man.

As Sarah led him through the archaeology department, Daniel felt himself slipping into the past. Last time he had been in this building, he had been turning in his resignation. As the academic community condemned his theories and his reputation was tarnished, the university had begun to withdraw funding from his research. He was forced to resign and move back to Los Angeles. Looking around, he could see the area had changed little, except for an array of items covering all the available workspace.

Regarding the selection, he exclaimed, "Wow. This stuff is incredible."

Caressing a gold bracelet, Sarah remarked, "I only wish we had more time with them. The Egyptian government has made a formal request for their return. We've been desperately trying to learn as much as can before the deadline."

Picking up a pot, he translated as he read: "_Woe to all who disturb this, my final resting place._"

"Careful now, all these artifacts are cursed. Well, that's what they say," scolded Sarah in a playful voice.

"Yeah, I read something like that."

"I'm not the expert; Hermione would know more. She has been researching the original site back in Egypt, and flew in from Cairo the moment we got hold of the collection. Every member of the original expedition in 1931 died within a year of the dig. And the ship transporting these artifacts to America sank off the coast of New Jersey six months later."

Racking his brain, Daniel finally remembered the name. "The Stevart Expedition."

"Yes."

"Uh, those deaths were attributed tomold spores that were released when they unsealed the chamber."

"Mold spores aren't exactly front page material," remarked Sarah.

"No, I guess not." Showing some confusion he asked, "Uh, if these things went down with the ship in 1931, how did they wind up here?"

"Well, they found the wreck a couple of months ago. All these artifacts were still in their packing crates. They brought it up and they shipped them to the museum. We just got them last week."

"Why did Dr. Granger come all the way here if they're to be sent back to Egypt? Why not just wait?" he asked with some confusion.

"She found an obscure form of writing on the chamber's walls. The translation has been giving her trouble and she was hoping to see if anything within the collection had similar inscriptions."

Feeling a slight sense of foreboding, Daniel asked "What kind of writing?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I can't really tell. You know translation was never one of my strong suits. It's from one of the early dynasties, but not quite." She gave him a self-conscious smile in acknowledgment of her shortcoming.

His interest was piqued. "Well, I can stay for a couple more days if you need some help cataloging these." A shocked look suddenly crossed Sarah's face as she looked about. "What?"

"Something is missing," Sarah said, her voice betraying her alarm.

"Uh, are you sure?"

"Positive. A gold amulet. Daniel, I've got to find it."

Leaning over an enlarged image of the canopic jar which had been destroyed in the explosion, Hermione tried to make out the writing along the rim. Even using a magnifying glass was proving to be a failure against the grainy picture. Becoming frustrated, she pulled out another image, hoping to find a better angle. She was too close to give up hope now.

It had been a whirlwind of activity since Dr. Jordan had set her up with her own workspace. Her days had been spent examining artifacts, running tests and trying to decode the writing she had. It was hard work trying to sort through the mess the collection was in after being trapped at the bottom of the ocean for so long. Half the artifacts had to be taken to be properly preserved by lab techs. The other half were being passed around to every researcher on the project to be catalogued, before she got a turn.

Then the lab had exploded and everyone had lost their way.

It had taken days just to clean up and be allowed back into the building after the police investigation. Time that she had used to examine the pictures taken of the artifacts and puzzle out the inscriptions from the site, at least when she was not avoiding Dr. Rayner. He had stopped by her hotel after the explosion to check in with her and would _accidentally_ run into her when she was working in another part of the school. As much as he seemed to be interested in helping her with her research, he more often than not hindered it. And now she had finally found what she had come all this way to discover, another sample of the same obscure writing, but the object had been destroyed.

She was studying another photo intensely when Sarah rushed into the room in a panic.

"Oh, thank God, you're still here. I was worried when I couldn't find you, I thought you might have already gone back to your hotel for the night," babbled Sarah.

Concerned at the panicked tone of Sarah's voice, Hermione stopped her before she broke down completely. "Sarah, you need to calm down and tell me what's going on."

Taking a few steadying breaths, Sarah replied, "You know that gold amulet with the ebony bit?" Hermione nodded in the affirmative. "It's gone."

"Gone as in mislabeled or..."

"Gone as in if I don't find it I'm screwed."

Hermione could feel herself becoming alarmed now too. If the amulet was missing, it could very well mean Sarah's job was on the line. The theft of antiquities met with severe consequences from the Egyptian government. If something was lost, the university would be held responsible and would have to pay an enormous fine. Most likely Sarah's faculty position would be dissolved to pay for it.

"Do you have any idea where it could be?" inquired Hermione.

Sarah burst into tears, which Hermione knew had been building up for the past few days. With all the emotional upheaval of losing Dr. Jordan, and now the amulet, Sarah was overdue for a breakdown. "I don't know what could have happened; it was there when I locked up last night."

Hermione tried to soothe her. "Listen, I'm going to ask everyone who's been working today and you should double check your lab. If that doesn't work, call the lab doing the chemical testing to see if it was accidentally taken in. I'll also check with the curator and we can meet back up afterward."

"Oh, Daniel already said he would check with the curator," Sarah said, sniffling.

"Dr. Jackson?" Hermione asked, curious.

Still upset, but calming down, Sarah continued, "Yeah. I was showing him around when I noticed it was missing." She smiled a bit at a memory, "I was telling him about your mysterious writing which, knowing Daniel, he couldn't resist and he volunteered to help catalogue everything, since we are short-handed now."

Knowing she was still upset, Hermione led Sarah to a chair and gave her a tissue. Pouring some tea out of the portable kettle she had set up, Hermione tried to change the subject. "So, what's the story with you and this Daniel anyway?"

Hermione had been curious about the history between the mysterious doctor and her two colleagues since the funeral. Watching Sarah blush in answer to her question, she could guess at the relationship between the two.

"We met when he came to the school for his PhD, and was working under Dr. Jordan along with Steven and myself. He had these theories which were so amazing, so crazy, but the way he would talk about them made you want to believe. He just had this personality that was so magnetic. I had a huge crush on him for the longest time before we began to date. We just clicked so well, Daniel had this passion about him, such conviction, it was all very romantic. It was exciting being around someone with so much charisma, so stimulating intellectually, it was an experience."

Hermione could see the stirring of old emotions in her eyes. Listening to Sarah, Hermione felt very lonely all of a sudden.

She had never been in such a relationship before, one where both parties were equals. Her relationship with Ron had barely begun before it ended. The strain of a long-distance relationship, combined with his physical therapy, family obligations, and her new life was too much for the young couple. Both had mourned the ending, knowing that their fairytale dream was gone.

At university, she mostly kept to herself, only going on an occasional date. It wasn't until after she moved to Paris for her Masters that she dated anyone for an extended period of time. Leon Ashwind was a fellow student in her graduate classes. They had been in the same study group and saw each other for a few months, before calling it off. They never quite got past friendship, owing mostly to Leon questioning his sexual preference. Despite the awkward breakup, they remained close _girlfriends_ to this day.

Hermione's only other relationship worth mentioning was with Omar Abassi. When her friends had learned she was moving to Egypt, they got Bill Weasley to contact some old colleagues to help keep an eye on her. Omar was one such associate: a darkly handsome cursebreaker she met when moving into her flat. In the course of her research, he helped to double check for traces of curses on any item she was working with. In exchange, she would often help with difficult to translate items he found at work. Despite the initial attraction, their relationship was stormy from the beginning. Omar was from an old, prestigious wizarding family and held many traditional beliefs, causing tension between the two. It was hard enough for her to be around someone who could still perform magic and had no understanding of Muggles, let alone someone who couldn't understand her need to be an independent woman.

Bringing her attention back to the conversation, Hermione listened more to the whirlwind affair of her colleagues. Trying to keep her thoughts from depressing her further, she teased Sarah. "I bet that wasn't the only thing stimulating."

Sarah laughed, turning crimson. "Oh, yeah."

"What happened?"

Sobering up with the old hurt, "It just got to be too much. His theories made him a laughingstock and it was just so hard to see him with all that potential go to waste."

Hermione let Sarah cry, knowing it had been a long time coming, before persuading her to leave for the day. She promised she would help Daniel look for the amulet.

Leaving Sarah to go search for the amulet, Daniel made his way to find the curator. There was a tingle of worry working its way up his spine. The curse, the missing amulet, Dr. Jordan's death and the mysterious writing combined to make him worry about Goa'uld involvement. He snapped himself out of that line of thought before panic could set in.

_Listen to yourself, Daniel, not everything has to end up being about them._

Finding the correct room using the description Sarah had provided, he found the curator sitting at a computer station. As he came into her sight she stood. "Excuse the state of things. Budget cuts. I'm straightening the mess out, but these things take time."

Smiling politely at the flustered woman, Daniel said, "I understand."

"So, what are you looking for?"

"Uh, an artifact that went missing from the Stevart Expedition," said Daniel.

Immediately, to Daniel's surprise, the curator said, "The Isis Jar."

Confused, he corrected her assumption, "Uh, no, actually, I'm referring to uh, a gold amulet with a little ebony, um it's listed as item fourteen."

The curator shook her head in disagreement. "That was sent up to Dr. Jordan along with the rest of the artifacts."

"You sure?"

"I sent 'em myself," she confirmed. "I can show you the paperwork."

"No." He thought about what she had said. "Um, what's this, Isis Jar you were talking about?"

"I'll show you," she said, leading him across the storage area to a back corner of the room, where he saw another shelf filled to capacity. Pointing to a box half-blocking the aisle, she told him, "That crate was mislabeled when it came in. I only found it a couple of days ago."

"Uh, this one?" asked Daniel, as he opened the crate to see the contents.

Looking over his shoulder as he took out the jar, she confirmed his guess. "Oh, yeah. Never seen those symbols before. Have you?"

Aghast, Daniel stared at the jar. "Uh, yes. I'm gonna need to do a translation."

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the back, cataloging the Polynesian death masks."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I would just like to say that I am not an archaeologist and no nothing about translating hieroglyphs. My theories are pure speculation and most likely make no sense in the real world. I would once again like to acknowledge my fantastic beta for all her help with this chapter.

Exiting the office of another researcher, Hermione made her way to visit the curator. She had sent Sarah home; the emotional upheaval had left her spent. She still hadn't had any luck in her search for the amulet and was hoping the mysterious Daniel would have found something by now. Walking through the aisles to the back of the room, she could hear Dr. Jackson's voice in the distance.

_"-basement of a museum looking at what appears to be an Egyptian burial jar...Which may not seem out of the ordinary in a museum, granted, but there's something else besides the usual hieroglyphs...There's a second set of markings. They're Goa'uld symbols...I'm sure...I'll call him now..." _

As she got closer, Hermione could see that Dr. Jackson was making a new call on his mobile. He was too engrossed to notice her presence, and she paused at the base of the aisle to wait, just out of his line of sight, for him to finish.

_"Pick up. Pic-Jack it's Daniel...I'm still in Chicago...Listen could you put Teal'c on...I've found a burial jar with Goa'uld symbols and I want to confirm the translation with him...Alright..." _

As she watched, Daniel lifted a canopic jar into view, startling Hermione. It looked like the destroyed Osiris jar. How on Earth had he got his hands on it?

_"Right, um listen, I need a little help with a translation. I've got a line here that reads, uh, Ha koor kra terah chee...Right...Okay thank you...No thanks, I think I can take it from here...Uh don't wait, wait." _

Rooted to the spot in shock, Hermione's thoughts raced, stumbling over themselves as she processed what she was hearing.

How could he know-

Oh my God-

Did he-

How-

Snapping out of her shocked state, Hermione stepped back into the shadows as Daniel wrote something down and began to make yet another call.

_"Sam, it's me again...I did...Look I'm getting a flight back tonight. We need to get the jar tested. Teal'c confirmed what I have translated and it doesn't sound that good. I'm not sure..."_

How did he know how to translate those symbols? She had looked for any hint of a way to translate that writing. How could he know it, let alone be able to speak it fluently?

Daniel hung up the phone and quickly gathered the papers on the desk and the jar. Hermione stayed in the shadows, hoping to avoid being seen. Silently thanking her years of eavesdropping with Harry, Ron, and the twins, she was able to remain hidden until Dr. Jackson left. Once he was out of sight, she made her way over to the desk and began hunting through what he had left there.

She was very confused and hoped to find some answers. All she found was a notebook with the top sheet torn off. Studying it closely, she could just make out the impressions from the writing on the previous sheet of paper. Carefully Hermione took out a pencil and rubbed it across the page, revealing the strange symbols and a translation beneath.

She picked up the notebook and made her way back through the stacks to the front desk, where the curator was busy with paperwork.

"Excuse me," she began anxiously, "but do you know where Dr. Jackson found the jar that he just left with?"

"The Isis jar?" the curator replied. "It was with a bunch of other artifacts that went missing from the Stevart expedition. We've only had it a couple of days. Dr. Jackson seemed real interested in it."

Discovering that it had been another jar for the goddess Isis gave Hermione pause. Before she rushed back to her lab, she remembered the amulet Sarah was worried over, and inquired about that as well. Finding that Steven Rayner had it increased her unease with the whole situation, since she had already questioned him. Why had he lied to her?

She marched straight back to Steven's lab to re-question him, but found the door locked up for the night. Letting out a groan of frustration, Hermione kicked the door. She was so confused and she hated that. Determined to find some answers, she made her way back to her workspace and settled down to begin working out the puzzle she had stumbled upon.

Pulling out the notebook, she began to re-study the inscriptions on the chambers walls. As the hours ticked by into the early morning, she couldn't shake a feeling of unease; something about the whole collection was off. From the deaths, which she knew could not actually be from a curse, to the obscure writing that Dr. Jackson somehow knew and Steven's erratic behavior she felt like she was caught up in a conspiracy. Taking a deep breath to focus herself, she tried to relax.

The symbols were just like the ones from the pictures she had of the Osiris jar. Something was bothering her about the writing though: it was similar to early dynastic hieroglyphics, but not quite. Remembering the conversation she had overheard, she quickly wrote out what she could remember and compared the translated text with the pronunciation. As she stared at the paper she experienced a sudden moment of clarity. The language Daniel had been speaking was Ancient Egyptian; it was just a different vowel use than the generally accepted attempts scientists had given the language.

She knew some of the symbols were variations of hieroglyphics from the early dynasties, and this just proved her theory was correct. Using the translation of Daniel's and her own experiment in using variations for similar shapes, she tried to glean more from the images from the temple walls. Pulling out texts to cross-reference the names mentioned and mostly using guesswork, the story that began to emerge from the symbols was startling. It told of the punishment of Isis and Osiris by Ra - a common myth of the time, but this version told of a secret plan to escape their faith. Something hidden in the temple would allow them the ultimate revenge against Ra.

The translation was still incomplete, but she was at a dead end. Shifting gears, Hermione used her laptop to look up Dr. Jackson. Finding mention in his past papers about the origin of Egyptian civilization being much older than currently theorized made her wonder if there was a connection between her studies of the Stevart expedition and his theories. She tried to find something more recent, but Dr. Jackson had not had any academic works published in the last five years. After another hour passed, she could only find that at present he was employed by the Air Force, which again left her wondering what was going on. None of this was making any sense.

The sun was rising when she was startled out of her thoughts by the appearance of Dr. Rayner, who knocked on the door of her office and walked in without waiting for an invite. He looked surprised at finding her already in, but covered it quickly with a charming smile.

"Hermione, I didn't know you were already in. Did you pull an all-nighter?" he asked with faked concern.

"Yes, but I was just finishing up," she said, trying to clean up her mess. "Was there a reason you dropped by, Steven?"

"Well, uh, I just was looking for an extra copy of the expedition log."

She did not quite believe his explanation, but let it pass for the moment. "I don't believe I have one. I went to talk to the curator last night and she told me that you had checked out the amulet Sarah's been looking for."

"There must be some mistake in the records," he said, dismissing the question. Coming over to help her pack and glancing at her notes, he changed the subject. "Have you made any more progress with your translations? It looks like you've had a productive night."

Not trusting his motives in asking, she lied, "Not really. I thought I was on to something, but it didn't work out. I'm sorry, Steven, but I need to get back to my hotel and clean up a bit."

"Alright," he said, clearly disappointed at the lack of information forthcoming from Hermione. "Do you want to have lunch later? I could help you brainstorm some of your theories."

Gathering up papers and her laptop, she waited until they had walked out the door and locked it behind them before replying, "Maybe."

Seeing his dissatisfaction with her answer, she yawned pointedly. She did not want him to push the issue and hoped he would take the hint.

It worked, and Steven soon departed. Trying not to run, she sped away, feeling her old sense of paranoia settling in. She preferred to think of it as an excess of caution, and during the war it had kept her alive more than once. Making sure no one was following, she went back to the museum to double-check Steven's story with the curator. Even thought she was exhausted, Hermione searched through the paperwork and confirmed Steven had signed out the amulet. Why was Steven trying to conceal the fact that he had it?

Arriving at her hotel, she quickly showered and fell into bed. Sleep continued to elude her as her brain refused to shut down. What was going on?

Daniel arrived in the briefing room to find Major Samantha Carter and General Hammond already waiting for him. Quickly passing out pictures of the jar, he began his debriefing with the usual background information.

"During the ritual of mummification, the ancient Egyptians would remove the vital organs of a deceased and place them in jars, which would then be buried with the sarcophagus so that they could be accessed in the afterlife," he explained.

General Hammond gave Daniel one of his piercing gazes. "Is that what we're looking at here?"

Shaking his head in the negative, Daniel continued, "That's what I thought at first, but according to the record of the original expedition, no sarcophagus was found. Uh, the hieroglyphs identify the jar as belonging to Isis, who is the Egyptian mother goddess."

"The Goa'uld?" interjected Sam.

"It's possible," replied Daniel. "You see, Isis was the consort of Osiris, supposedly the first Pharaoh of Egypt. Now according to legend, he was placed in a magic box and dumped in to the Nile by his brother Seth."

"Now that name I recognize," said Hammond.

"The Goa'uld symbols indicate that Isis and Osiris suffered some sort of punishment, or banishment," continued Daniel, flipping through his notes.

"Where to?" asked Sam.

"I have no idea."

Turning his attention onto Sam, General Hammond gave her an order. "Major, I want the contents analyzed."

"Yes sir."

"Uh, no, I'd be careful if I were you. For all we know it could be some sort of Goa'uld booby trap left behind by Osiris as a means revenge. Also, it's, uh... It's cursed," warned Daniel.

"Thanks for the warning," said a cautious Sam.

"General. There's something else. The inventory of the Stevart Expedition lists two jars."

Daniel could see that Hammond disliked his news deeply, "Can you find the other one?"

"Well, I can try. I was gonna head back to Chicago tonight."

It was still early when Hermione left her hotel to head back to the university. She had had almost no sleep, and it showed. Yawning, she made sure to stop for coffee before heading to her assigned lab. Pulling out her work, she settled down and spent the rest of the day continuing her research. Something was missing; she could feel it, but whatever it was continued to elude her.

At about four in the afternoon she decided to pack up for the day. She couldn't concentrate anymore, hunger and fatigue dragging her down. She made her way to the faculty dining hall for an early dinner. Just as she was crossing the main quad, Dr. Rayner appeared and repeated his invitation from earlier to accompany him for a meal. Too tired to come up with an excuse, Hermione let herself be led into the hall.

As they ate, she once again inwardly questioned Dr. Rayner's motives in asking her to accompany him for a meal. He was hiding things and seemed to be feeling her out about any progress in her work. Shaking her head, Hermione tried to focus back on the conversation. Her sluggish brain was in all likelihood conjuring feelings of paranoia when there really was nothing to worry about. Dr. Rayner was someone in her own field and working on the same project. What else would two virtual strangers talk about? He was just being welcoming. What else could he want? Hermione knew she was attractive enough to be of interest to him but she could tell his mind wasn't on that subject. From some of Sarah's gossip it sounded like he preferred to get closer to the student body.

She told him about her work while giving away little of her progress. Her questions about his work were met with the same guarded responses. The conversation was strained, and as soon as she was finished eating she tried to make her escape, but once again found herself being escorted by Dr. Rayner, this time to the parking lot. After making sure she was alert enough to drive, he parted ways with her to get a few more hours' work done for the day.

Caught in rush hour traffic, Hermione tried not to let her tired body distract her. Blasting the radio in the hope of keeping awake she tried to focus on the road and not get lost in her head. She smiled as a classic song began playing, reminding her painfully of her father playing the same song when she was little. In an attempt to pry her away from her books for a few hours he would have her help when he was repairing the car. During the summer she would help pass him tools, change the oil or clean the vehicle. Holding back a sob, she remembered the last time she had even spoken to her parents.

It had been before Christmas. Her parents had made plans to visit, but canceled at the last minute. It had become a long-standing tradition for her to travel to France for the holiday season and they would take the tunnel to meet her there. Harry and the Weasleys would also come to stay with the Delacours, who would host them all at their country manor for several days. Her parents had always come to see her, even if they could only get away for a day, but this year had been different. Their feelings toward magic had somewhat soured, to say the least, when she had been exiled, but they knew she still had friends in the magical community.

This past year though, they had fought more than ever, not just about magic, but also her recent decision to take a faculty position at the University of Cairo. They feared that a western woman living alone in Egypt was a bad idea. It had been another blow to their already fragile relationship. Most of their communication was through email nowadays.

Over the years she had got to know lots of Fleur's relatives and had remained close when she lived in Paris. The Weasley matriarch had also continued to treat her as another child; Harry's adoptive status had become official when he had married Ginny four years earlier. She remembered that occasion very well. Her friends had petitioned the Ministry to allow her back into the country for the event, but their request had been denied. Despite their initial plans to hold the wedding at The Burrow, Harry and Ginny had made other arrangements so that she could be with them on their special day: using some of the Black family wealth and a bit of magic, they had been able to rent a charter boat for the ceremony and held it off the coast so she could attend without breaking any laws.

It had been a beautiful ceremony, and a chance to see many old friends, who she had not had the opportunity to be with since the final battle. The day had been both heartwarming and bittersweet, once again reminding her that she was an outsider even among friends.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Chapter Notes:

A/N: I want to thank those of you who have been following this series on Granger Enchanted. I'm trying to work up to continuing where I left off in story 5, I have it all planned out, but life regretfully got in the way. Now that I have a computer again I'm hoping to pick up, but it has been awhile since I have looked over my outlines. I'm posting this story on this site to expand my audience and renew my interest in this story. One of the biggest problems I have faced in writing this series has been trying to find a reliable beta who has knowledge of both Stargate and Harry Potter. I'm asking anyone out there who could help me to send me an email. I can send you a summary of the next stories in this series or you can look them up at Granger Enchanted under the same penname. Hopefully I will be able to start posting brand new chapters on both sites and be able to finish story 5and maybe begin 6.

Daniel's flight into O'Hara Airport had been uneventful. Having left his luggage at the hotel he had checked out of for the funeral, all he had left to do was get his key back from the front desk and drop off his carry on bag. Pulling out a scrap of paper, he quickly dialed Sarah's number to inform her he was back in Chicago and that the emergency back home had blown over. Being so late, they made arrangements to go out for lunch the next day. Before hanging up he asked about the amulet, only to be told it was still missing.

He grabbed a jacket and headed out of the hotel, having decided to go talk with the curator about the other missing jar. Pulling into the parking area, he quickly checked the time and sighed with relief; he still had forty minutes before the museum closed for the night. Most of the collection was being stored there and items that needed to be studied were brought over to the university labs not too far away. It was late and Daniel hoped he would be able to find some answers quickly so he could go grab a bite to eat.

Walking into the museum storage area, he found the place in complete darkness. Not wanting to stumble into anything, he felt around for a wall and called out, "Hello! Hello!"

"Do you mind?" came Steven's voice out of the blackness.

Barely making out his figure, Daniel asked, "What're you doing here?"

"What're you doing here?" Steven countered.

"I asked first," said Daniel.

With an exasperated sigh, Steven replied, "I work here, Daniel. Remember?" Turning back to the wall he began to prod the area. "Wherever. The damn thing is I'm looking for the breaker box."

Mollified, Daniel said "Right, um, I had a few questions for that curator."

Steven furrowed his brow, thinking, before replying. "Uh, I don't think she's here. The lights were out when I came in. What did you want to ask her about?"

"I needed some information on items from the Stevart Expedition. There's something missing."

"There's nothing missing," dismissed Steven.

Daniel, in an aggravated tone, went on regardless, "Uh, a Canopic jar with some hieroglyphs and some unusual markings."

"The Osiris jar," Steven replied.

"Yes."

"Destroyed in the explosion."

"You sure about that?" probed Daniel. He couldn't believe that even with all the rivalry between them Steven would be so blasé about the possibility of a missing artifact.

"Yes. Positive."

Daniel decided to try a different tack. "Okay, well what about this, uh, gold amulet?"

"Daniel, if you're looking to get back with Sarah, you know, that's your business. I really couldn't care less, but I do have a problem with you coming here and involving yourself in my work."

Startled at the abrupt change in topic, Daniel ignored Steven's implication. "Uh, don't you mean Dr. Jorden's work?" he asked.

Steven huffed, annoyed. "No, my work. Sarah and I were Dr. Jorden's assistants; you haven't been involved since you walked out on him."

Aggravated by what Steven was inferring, Daniel couldn't help but protest, despite knowing it was futile. It was the same argument the two had been having since meeting as students.

"I didn't walk out on him. I was trying to protect him. Look, I don't want to get into this with you right now, but you need my help."

Finally getting the lights to come on, Steven whirled around. "Why, you think there might be Aliens involved?" He wiggled his eyebrows in a mocking way, before his face shifted to one of horror. "Oh God." Turning, Daniel could see what had caused the pale expression on Steven's face. The body of the curator laid by the foot of her desk, blood pooling around her.

_She could hear the sounds of fighting growing fainter the further she got from the Great Hall. Turning the corner, she barely managed to stop before she ran right into a pile of rubble blocking the hallway. She stepped on a stray rock and cursed as she felt her ankle turn under her. The sharp pain caused tears to spring to her eyes. Looking around, she couldn't find a way past and began limping back the way she had come. _

_She was running out of time. _

_Stumbling back, she tried to avoid the battle raging around her and find another way to the Headmaster's Office. Stopping in the shadows she tried to assess her situation. There had to be a way to make it across the Great Hall and to the staff door without being shot down. Heart pounding, she cast a Disillusionment Charm and took a deep breath; the best approach would be to just run straight out across the room. If she stayed to the shadows around the walls it would take far too long. _

_She took off at a sprint and was halfway across before she had to duck a stray hex. Looking up, she was confronted with the image of Dolohov towering above her. Fear paralyzed her; it was the same fear she had possessed of the Death Eater since the battle at the Ministry. Frozen, she watched as his mouth began to move to form a curse. With shaking limbs she managed to roll out of the way before the purple light hit. Twisting her body, she was able to fire off a curse of her own, which just missed. She struggled to her feet and they began to duel. Lights danced around them in a blaze of color as they each fought to destroy the other. Finally she managed to hit him with a jet of fire. Seizing the opportunity she took off for the staff door, hearing his inhuman shrieking echo behind her. _

_She hurtled through the door and slammed it behind her. Staggering up the winding staircase, she found the locked door to the Headmaster's Office. Pulling out a first edition copy of "Hogwarts: A History'", she flipped to the page she had marked, took a deep breath and began chanting in Latin, following the instructions of the book. Using a knife to cut into her palm, she smeared the blood across the door frame, creating runes as she went. She was invoking the Call of Need to gain access to the office. It was an ancient summons to the school for protection. It had been all but forgotten over time as the Wizarding world entered a golden age after the founding of the school, with the threat of outside attack long since forgotten. _

_When the door gave way beneath her hands she felt herself relax a little. It had actually worked. She had spent the better part of a year researching these spells, ever since she had found the ancient edition of her favorite book in the Black family library, and the first was a success. Stepping into the office, she took in the changes Snape had wrought in his tenure of the room. A tremble in the foundations of the building brought her back to her task. Glancing at her watch, she could see there was barely any time left. Hastily she opened her bag to retrieve the items for the ritual and turned to another page in the tome. _

_Drawing runes with her still-bleeding hand, she began the ritual using the salvaged Horcruxes as the original founder items along with Gryffindor's sword, which she had stolen back from Griphook, for the final piece. With the portraits of the former Headmasters looking on, she began the chant. According to her research, by being in the Headmaster's Office she would be able to tap into the power of Hogwarts itself and be able to channel that magic into the students fighting for the school. It would increase their power and hopefully give them a fighting chance against the overwhelming numbers of Voldemort's army. It was dangerous and, as the focus for the spell, she could potentially be killed. She had kept it a secret from Harry, knowing it would distract him from his fight with Voldemort. _

_Continuing her chanting, she began to feel the build-up of power in the room. A smell of ozone tingled her nose and her hair began to spark with an electric charge. Light spilled into the room and with it came a dry heat that caused the paper of her book to ignite. Ignoring the blistering heat, she kept chanting. Pure energy began to travel through her body, causing her to arch up in pain. A ringing began to build in her ears; it was too much, she couldn't control it. The energy kept building, it was suffocating her, leaving her gasping for breath...it hurt...the burning...she could hear screaming... _

Jerking awake Hermione tried to steady her racing heart. It was just a nightmare, it was just a night-

She could still hear the ringing. Confused, she finally identified the telephone as the cause of the commotion. Fumbled around in the dark, she managed to find the device.

"Hello," she answered groggily. Glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, she could see that it was just past midnight.

"Hermione, I'm sorry to wake you, but it's Sarah."

Sitting up straighter at the distressed tone of Sarah's voice, Hermione asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Hermione, they found the body of the curator earlier tonight."

"What?"

"The curator is dead. They say it looks like an accident, but Daniel and Steven have both been brought in for questioning. Look, I know it's late, but could you go down to the station to pick them up? I would, but the headlights of my car just won't turn on," she pleaded.

Hermione was already sliding out of her bed and stumbling to turn on the lights. "Of course," she said, trying to find a notepad and pen. "I'll need directions though."

Once Sarah was finished giving her directions to the station from the hotel, Hermione was able to find some clothes which didn't smell too bad (she had forgotten to take them down to the in service cleaners earlier) and dressed hurriedly. Shrugging on a jacket, she slipped on some shoes while double-checking she had everything in her purse.

Yawning, she made her way to the parking garage while pulling her hair back in a quick ponytail. Twenty minutes later she was pulling up to the station house. She hurried in and made her way to the front desk, where she was directed to wait for an officer to meet up with her.

Just as she was starting to nod off, the door at the end of the hall opened and a detective came to talk with her. After debriefing her about the investigation, she was told both men were being released. Neither was under arrest, but they had been advised to stay in the area for questioning. It appeared that the curator had died in an accident and the only reason that the two had been brought in was of an altercation between the pair. Dr. Rayner had accused Dr. Jackson of being a killer and the ensuing argument had turned into a minor fistfight. The detectives on the scene had thought it best to bring both in to cool down and be questioned.

Turning the corner, Hermione found both men handcuffed to chairs and trying their hardest to ignore each other. Noticing her entrance, both men looked up. Giving them a bemused smile, she said, "I hope that you both can behave civilly for a bit longer while I get you released." She received two glares in response.

Once the paperwork was finished, both men followed her out to the curb where her rental was parked. Before they got in, Steven broke the silence. "I'm not going anywhere with him."

Daniel snapped back, "No one asked you to. If you had just kept your mouth shut we wouldn't even be here."

"I'm not the one who showed up out of nowhere after being missing for years, expecting to be greeted with open arms. You've been poking your nose in where it doesn't belong and disrupting my work."

"Oh please-"

Hermione placed her fingers in her mouth and let out a sharp whistle, causing them to stop their quarrel. "Listen, you two. You will both stop this petty squabbling and start behaving like adults. I'm tired and would like to be able to get back to my hotel sometime tonight. So pipe down and get in the car."

Whirling around she got into the driver's seat. After a short wait, Daniel got into the passenger side and Steven began to walk away. With a sigh, Hermione asked, "Where is he going?"

Also letting out a sigh, Daniel replied, "He said he would get a cab."

"Fine let's get out of here." Hermione snapped, thoroughly annoyed. She pulled out onto the street and began to steer back to the university to drop Daniel off at his car.

Hearing a grumble, she turned to look at Daniel, who shrugged uncomfortably. "If it's not too much trouble, uh, could you pull into a drive-through somewhere? I was waiting until after I saw the curator to eat dinner."

Feeling sorry for the man, Hermione let her earlier anger fade. "Sure, but I have a better idea."

Making a turn, she found the all-night diner one of the researchers had mentioned as a good place to get something to eat late at night. It wasn't too far from the campus and appeared to be full of college students. They found themselves a booth and pulled out menus. Daniel ordered a hamburger with a side of fries, and a coffee. In an attempt to keep herself awake, Hermione decided to get coffee as well, and accompanied it with a sugary dessert.

Breaking the silence that settled over the booth once the waitress departed, Daniel commented, "I haven't been in this place in years."

"Really? I didn't know it was such a hotspot. I was just told it was a good place to find food at any hour."

Once again silence settled over the two. Hermione could sense that Daniel was on the verge of saying something, but would stop himself. Uncomfortable with the scrutiny she finally demanded, "What?"

Obviously startled at her query, he stuttered, "I'm sorry?"

"Daniel, if you want to ask something, just do it."

"OK," he admitted, flustered. "It just occurred to me that I haven't even thanked you for coming to pick me up. We're basically strangers to each other and yet you took the time to come out in the middle of the night to help Steven and me out."

Waving away his concern, Hermione said, "I'm just doing a favor for Sarah. She's been a good friend since I got here and with everything that has happened, it's been a hard few days for her."

Nodding in agreement, Daniel took a sip of his coffee. "The way I understand it, you haven't know each other all that long."

"Well I came in about a week and a half ago now to view the collection. Sarah was a great help in making sure I had everything available to do my work."

"Yeah, she mentioned your mysterious writing." He paused, seeming to choose his next words carefully. "I don't know if she told you, but I'm quite good with translations. If you need any help, I would be happy to take a look."

Hermione was wary. She wasn't sure she should trust Daniel; she knew he was hiding something. Deliberating with herself, she finally came to a decision and opened her purse. She searched through the contents to find a notepad with a few lines of hieroglyphs she had scribbled out. The rest of her work was back at the hotel, with extra copies in her office at the school. "I don't have my work with me, but this is a sample of what I have been working on, take a look." she said, passing him the notebook.

Hermione tried to read his expression as he read, but to no avail. As he continued to flip through the pages, she witnessed shock cross his features. After muttering to himself a bit he said, "And this was off the chamber walls?"

"Yes."

"How far into the translation have you gotten?" he asked, frowning.

Deciding to remain cautious, she lied, "Not too far. I'm still having trouble identifying the symbols. I'm trying to look for common roots and other permutations." Attempting to feel out his intentions, she asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Still staring at the notepad, he answered, "I'm not sure... I have come across something similar before, but I would need to cross-reference my notes to be sure. Do you, uh, think I could see the original images?"

"I could bring by some copies tomorrow. It's late and I need to get some sleep tonight."

Finally tearing his gaze away from the pages, Daniel looked at her, probably noticing the circles under her eyes. "Of course."

The waitress took the opportunity to show up with their food. As they ate, conversation turned toward more lighthearted topics. They each discussed their respective schooling and careers, skillfully hiding the real truths behind them. The night ended with a friendly argument over the merits of some historically obscure subject that would only be interesting to a few.

Once she finished her dessert, Hermione waited for Daniel to complete his meal. They left a generous tip and made their way back to the car. When they arrived at the parking lot back at the campus, Hermione made sure to drop Daniel off next to his car. Not many cars remained in the lot and to her relief, Steven's was already gone; at least he had made it back safely. Pulling away she glanced at the time; it was 3:17 in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I own nothing. I would like to say that any of the techno-babble in this chapter is not mine it comes directly from the show and if it is wrong don't to blame me.

Hermione got out of her rental, swinging her laptop case over her shoulder and yawning widely. Almost dropping her mug of tea, she fumbled with her supplies before they could crash to the ground. She made her way into the archaeology building and down the corridor to her assigned office. She reached the door, carefully balancing her possessions as she searched for the key. Liberating it from her briefcase, Hermione brought it forward and froze.

The door was ajar. With a feeling of dread, she gently pushed it open further. The door swung open, its hinges protesting, the noise seeming to echo through the empty hallway. She stepped into the room, her heart pounding. Her office was in chaos.

Her desk had evidently been searched, the drawers open, contents spilling onto the floor, her books had been haphazardly scattered across the shelves, and the file cabinets emptied. Slowly moving forward, she ignored the mess and made her way to the computer. It was on, and after a quick search she found that the system had been wiped and her disks were missing. Fear shot through her, sending icy fingers running up her spine. Without bothering to investigate further, Hermione rushed out of the room, not stopping even after she had exited the building.

Finding herself pacing the quad a few minutes later, she tried to calm down. What was going on? Who could have broken into her office? Thinking back, she tried to remember if she had locked the door on her way out the night before.

She knew she had.

_Think, Hermione, just think. _

Ever since she had arrived to observe the collection, it had been one thing after another. Dr. Jorden's death, the curator's accident, the mysterious Daniel Jackson, Steven's annoying interest, and now a break-in. The papers kept saying it was a curse, but Hermione knew that could not be the case. She almost wished the cause was magic - it would make everything easier, but she had examined everything. Even with her wand snapped and having been force-fed a magical inhibitor, she could still feel magical signatures, an unforeseen side-effect of the spell she'd participated in at Hogwarts.

With the amount of raw power that had coursed through her body during the spell, it was a wonder she was still breathing, let alone left unchanged. It was part of the reason the Ministry had seen her as such a threat and done their best to strip away her magic. She couldn't access her powers, but she was far from being left a helpless Muggle, as they had hoped. She still retained the ability to pass through magical barriers like the one at the Leaky Caldron, normally inaccessible to Muggles, and a few other benefits. It was what allowed her to enter magically sealed areas when exploring tombs back in Egypt. It also allowed her to know there was no trace of magic on anything she had examined in the collection.

Jerking to a halt, Hermione suddenly remembered that she hadn't examined everything.

The amulet.

The one Sarah couldn't find and which she knew Steven was hiding. She had only ever seen photocopied pictures of the amulet; she had never had an opportunity to examine it in person. Looking through her notes, she couldn't find reports on it anywhere. Had anyone done any testing on it? It was a long shot, but sometimes cursed objects held a trace of a potion solution to prevent the oxidation of the metal and the eventual destruction of the object, which could be picked up in chemical testing. It was usually labeled as anointment oil because the magical elements would not show up on those chemical tests.

Throwing her research back into her bag, she quickly made her way across the campus to the testing labs. If the object was cursed she needed to know before someone else was hurt.

It wouldn't be the first time she had come across something magical in her career. Normally she would just call up one of the local cursebreakers from Gringotts, who would then stop by and either remove the curse or duplicate the object and take the real one. It was this relationship that had helped her to gain access to many obscure writings of Ancient Egypt over the years. As long as she helped the local cursebreakers keep dangerous objects away from Muggles, and assisted with the occasional translation, they would let her gather information not normally available to Muggles. With access to magically sealed tombs and temples, she had been able to take pictures of the inscriptions on the walls for her private research, since her colleagues could not know where the information was coming from. Hermione had also been gifted over the years with several scrolls and tablets of hieroglyphs, by various cursebreakers in the area. It was mainly because Gringotts could not find any monetary value in them, considering them junk to be destroyed, and let her collect what she wanted. It had helped her to become better acquainted with the early dynastic writings mostly ignored by the majority of Egyptologists.

It was that research that helped her to partially translate the inscriptions on the temple walls. How did Daniel know how to read that language? Did he take the other canopic jar to test for the anointment oil? Did he know about the wizarding world? He knew more than he was saying, that was for sure. Speeding up her pace, she finally reached the entrance. It was time to get some answers.

The lab was empty and Hermione began to call out. "Hello, is anyone in?" No response. Stepping further into the room, she called again. "Is anyone in here? I need- Oh God." Looking down at the body of the lab technician, Hermione stumbled back in shock.

She looked around fearfully to see if anyone was there before she bent down to check for a pulse. The body was cold. Carefully moving around the remains, Hermione made her way to the main computer in the back office. With shaking hands she quickly pulled up the lab results for the amulet and looked for those on the destroyed canopic jar. She printed out a copy and fled the lab.

_Oh God, oh God. What was going on? _

She once again found herself outside, pacing the quad area. Who had searched through her office? Glancing around, she could see that students were beginning to take notice of her weird behavior. Grabbing her abandoned supplies, she relocated to the food court and took over a table. Making sure no one was watching, she pulled out the results she had printed out from the testing lab. She could find no mention in any of the documents of anointment oil being found on the objects. She almost sighed with relief that magic could be ruled out. Then what was going on? Why did everyone seem to be dying? Her confusion was answered as she turned to the final page of the report. The carbon dating placed the jar as being 10,000 years old, predating Egyptian civilization by several millennia.

This could literally cause the academic community to descend into chaos. It would be the find of the century, a guaranteed way to make a name for yourself. Hermione could only think of two people who would crave that kind of success: Daniel and Steven. The one had built his career on the theory that Egyptian civilization was older than anyone knew. What would he do to vindicate himself to the academic community? Then there was Steven, who was hiding things and was the very definition of ambition.

Was last night with Daniel a distraction to keep her from her office? Could they be working together? Daniel obviously knew more about the language than he was letting on; he had taken the second jar to be tested. Why? Steven seemed to be deliberately trying to keep the amulet from her. He also had been pressuring her for information on the translations she had been working on. Was he the one that had searched her office?

She felt so lost, tears of stress started to make their way down her face. She was confused and scared. Trying to keep herself from panicking more, Hermione took a deep breath to calm down.

The key had to be in the text; both men had taken a keen interest in her research. What was so important about the story she had found? Taking out her notes, she re-examined the story. It finally clicked. Something was still hidden in the temple and staring at the images, she could see an indentation in the altar that the missing amulet could fit in.

Inspired into action, she made her way back to her rental car and quickly pulled out of the school lot. She called the airline on her mobile and quickly booked a flight back to Cairo. She didn't feel safe waiting for a direct flight, so her trip ended up having a couple layovers. Weaving through the traffic, she tried not to speed, but fear pushed her on. She parked the rental and walked into the hotel and sped up the stairs, not bothering to wait for the lift. She threw her clothes into her bag, not bothering to fold, and was walking out the door a few minutes later. She checked out, got back into the car and headed to O'Hara airport, where she dropped off the rental and made her way back to the terminal to pick up her ticket at the counter. Walking through security, she drew some concerned looks at her frazzled state. To avoid attracting further attention, she pulled out her laptop and began to send some emails to friends back in Cairo, informing them of her early return. The distraction worked to calm her, and kept others from staring at her with concern.

It wasn't until the plane began to level out that the adrenaline driving her began to abate and Hermione finally crashed. Her sleep was anything but peaceful and the flight attendant had to wake her several times during the flight, as nightmares troubled her.

"The police said that the museum curator suffered a fatal blunt trauma to the skull," commented Daniel, seeing the look of concern Sarah was giving him. The two had been working to finish the collection's catalogue and Daniel had been filling her in on the previous night's events.

"They don't think that you had anything to do with her death?" she enquired.

Daniel interrupted before she had even finished her sentence. "No, they don't think that. Of course, Steven certainly didn't do anything to dissuade them from suspecting me, but fortunately I know a few people. Anyway, uh, they found some bricks at the bottom of the freight elevator shaft and they think that they came from the wall above; that it was just a freak accident."

"You know the papers are saying the curse of the mummy strikes again."

Trying to steer the conversation away from any mention of a curse, Daniel asked, "Do you have any pictures of the Osiris Jar, the one that was destroyed in the explosion?"

Sarah opened a desk drawer and riffled through the files, finally pulling out some pictures. "Yeah. Here."

Carefully studying the image, Daniel took his glasses off, cleaned the lenses and put them back on. Squinting, he said, "I can't make out the inscription around the collar."

Taking the photo from him, Sarah pointed to the lip of the jar. "We were unable to identify the symbols, but Dr. Jorden copied them into his notebook. Those markings are unlike anything we've ever seen before. They're not Egyptian. Dr. Granger has been studying them along with the pictures that she brought with her from the temple walls."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, she mentioned that last night. Do you know when she's coming in? She offered to show me the images." Daniel tried to keep the urgency out of his voice, hoping he succeeded. After seeing the small sample Hermione had given him the night before, he was even more curious about her research and felt that the key to finding out about the Isis Jars purpose could be found amongst the ruins. It also worried him that she was well on her way to figuring out a workable translation. He even suspected she was further along then she had let on.

Sarah frowned in thought. "No, I haven't seen her. Normally she's in by now. She has been working some pretty long hours lately." Shrugging, she changed the subject, "Do you have any ideas what kind of symbols they are?"

"No, they're not Egyptian." Daniel said, agreeing with her earlier statement. They were Goa'uld symbols, but he couldn't tell her that.

"So what are they?"

Slightly surprised she had caught onto the fact that he recognized the writing, Daniel tried to remain evasive. "What are they?"

Staring at him, Sarah asked, "You know. How?"

Daniel hedged. "Let's just say I can't really get into it right now, but this is very important. Did Dr. Jorden do any kind of preliminary tests on the jar?"

Daniel could tell Sarah was getting frustrated with his non-answers. After giving him a piercing look, she replied, "Not that I know of, but he kept all his lab results in the computer." Sitting down at the computer, Sarah began to search for the information. Pausing, she began to punch in some more keys and then more with increasing frustration. "Something's wrong."

Daniel leaned over her shoulder to get a closer look at the screen. "What?"

"Dr. Jorden's files are gone. Everything's been wiped clean. Including his email account."

"Do you keep back-ups?"

Sarah gave a slight scowl at the computer as she continued to search. "Yeah, but they're not here."

"What're you doing?" He watched as she pulled up several new windows on the screen.

Sarah explained as she continued to type. "The system marks file space that's been deleted as tombstone. At regular intervals it scours the database looking for tombstone values and marks them as being ready to be overwritten. There's usually a window of about thirty days before that happens so I might be able to retrieve the files before the tombstone values replicate through the network... I've got something. The professor received one message on the night he died. But I'm guessing he never got around to reading it."

Reading the information, Daniel confirmed, "That's the results of the carbon-dating analysis done on the ebony portion of item fourteen."

"The missing gold amulet," confirmed Sarah. "Oh my God! Daniel. It's over ten thousand years old!" she cried. "This means you were right all along!"

"Yeah, I know." Daniel agreed, far less enthusiastically.

Clearly not paying attention to his tone, she went on. "Egyptian civilization must be thousands of years older than we've ever assumed."

Trying to gently break her out of her excitement, Daniel said, "Sarah, you can't tell anyone about this."

She stared at him in shock. "What are you talking about? This is exactly the evidence you've been looking for! It completely validates your theories."

Seeing the expression on her face, Daniel wished he could tell her the truth, but it was too dangerous. He tried to appear as the voice of reason. "Look, all we've got is the result of one carbon-dating analysis done on a missing artifact."

Seeing his point, she quickly agreed. "So we can contact the technician who performed the analysis."

She had blind-sided him. "What?"

Finishing up his phone call, Daniel turned at the sound of the door opening.

Rushing into the room, Sarah began to speak. "Daniel. There you are. I've been looking all over for you. Dr. Jorden wasn't the only one to get these results. Steven received them too."

Brushing off her concern, he replied, "Yeah, I was just doing a little extra research."

Not paying attention to his explanation, Sarah continued to babble on. "I went by Steven's place and he's gone. He's just packed up everything and left."

"I know." Daniel had already checked Stevens office, hoping to question him about the missing amulet, and seen the same thing. A call to admissions confirmed that Dr. Rayner had called into to cancel his classes for the rest of the week.

"You think he stole the amulet, don't you?" asked Sarah, disbelief in her voice.

"Yes." It wasn't the whole truth, but it would do.

"To stop your theories from being proven correct?"

Daniel decided not to disagree with her inaccurate conclusion. "Uh, it's possible. Anyway, I have to find him."

Grabbing her bag, Sarah announced, "I'll come with you."

"No... No, it's too dangerous," he quickly protested.

"Were talking about Steven here," dismissed Sarah.

Trying to reason with her, Daniel justified his claim. "Sarah, there have been three deaths already."

Clearly startled, she turned to look at him with shock. "Three?"

He knew she would not believe him. How could he explain that one of her oldest friends was had very probably been possessed by an alien and had most likely killed several people? "They just found the body of the technician who did the carbon-dating on the amulet."

Sarah shook her head in denial. "Daniel, I know Steven. He maybe capable of a lot of things, but he's no murderer."

"Well you may not know him as well as you think you do. At least, not anymore." He knew the argument was weak, but he had to try.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied, outraged, then mocked, "Oh let me guess. You can't explain, right?"

"Sarah,' Daniel pleaded.

"Well what do you expect, Daniel? You show up after five years, but you can't say where you've been. You've got this mysterious ability to be able to read an ancient language which nobody's ever seen before, but you can't explain how. And when we finally find the evidence that will be able to vindicate you in front of the entire archaeological community you want to cover it up. What is going on?" Giving him a heartbreaking look, she pleaded, "This is me, Daniel."

Futilely, he replied, "I know."

"Then why can't you trust me? What have you been doing for the past five years?"

"I want to tell you, Sarah. I do, believe me. I wish you could see some of the things I've seen. But the world is not ready to know. Not yet."

"I'm not asking you to tell the world. I'm asking you to tell me. This is my life's work, too, Daniel. So you're working for the government." Daniel just looked away. He could explain his work for the Air Force but he knew that their cover story wouldn't stand up against her. "What? Daniel."

"I'm sorry." He really was. He had dreamed of this moment for years: finding proof that he wasn't a crackpot, but he knew that it couldn't be released.

"You're just going to disappear again, aren't you?" He could see that she was resigned to his silence and holding back tears.

"Yes," he said sadly.

Sniffling she walked away. "I think Steven was right. You never should've come back."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I don't own anything. I would also like to say that I don't know anything about guns or laws about ownership in other countries, any mistakes are mine.

Daniel once again found himself back in Colorado in the SGC conference room, giving a debriefing over the new findings he had uncovered back in Chicago.

General Hammond checked the papers in front of him. "You believe this Steven Rayner has been taken over by a Goa'uld."

Grimly, Daniel replied, "Well, it makes sense."

"What about this Dr. Granger; you said that she has made remarkable progress in translating the writing back at the original site?" inquired the General.

Sam nodded in agreement with Hammond. "You did say that she was present during Dr. Jorden's death and had come all the way from Egypt to examine the collection. Is it possible that she has been taken over by the Goa'uld, or is at least working with Rayner?"

Daniel took a moment to think over the theory and voiced his opinion. "I'm not sure. It's only the one jar that is missing, we have the other. Also from what I saw, Dr Granger's relationship with Steven is strained. She might know more than she has let on, but that could be explained away as caution; there have been several deaths."

Accepting Daniel's reasoning, Sam continued on with her questions. "So how do we find him?"

"Right now this is our only lead," said Daniel as he brought up an image onto the Powerpoint projector. "It's the amulet that was stolen from Dr. Jorden's office. Now by Earth standards it's a priceless relic, but I'm assuming the Goa'uld isn't interested in its monetary value."

"Then why take it?" questioned Sam.

Daniel didn't really know what to make of it, but informed the group of what he had uncovered in his research. "That's a good question. It's a pretty standard representation of Osiris. He's carrying a crook and flail, which are the scepters of kingship, and in the center is an ankh, which is the Egyptian symbol for immortality."

"Could it be some sort of Goa'uld device?" speculated General Hammond.

"It's possible," confirmed Daniel. It made sense; it had happened before.

"Well, that might explain why it was the only item taken," Sam provided, further supporting the theory that had been given.

Daniel passed around another report. "I checked the other artifacts for any indication of naquadah, which is usually a sure sign of Goa'uld technology, and I came up empty."

"Assuming this Goa'uld is Osiris, what does he want?" queried Hammond, trying to bring the conversation back toward the immediate threat.

Reflecting on their past experiences against the Goa'uld, Daniel tried to think of the next logical move one would take. "Well, he's been out of the loop a long time. He doesn't know what happened to Seth or Ra. He could be looking for the Isis Jar."

"Or a way off the planet," offered Sam, directing the group's attention toward the Stargate, which could be seen through the observation windows in the room.

"I've already put the base on alert," Hammond informed them.

Daniel knew that General Hammond and everyone on the base would put forward every effort to prevent Osiris from trying to use the gate. He just hoped that the Goa'uld didn't have some trick up their sleeve like Hathor had. While he was lost in his thoughts on the past, Janet took the opportunity to speak up for the first time in the meeting and offer what she had discovered. "I managed to synthesize the liquid from the jars. On its own it should act as a powerful sedative. One dart should be more than enough to knock out an adult Goa'uld."

"Do we really want this thing alive?" said Sam, obvious distaste in her voice.

"Well, even though it's been in stasis for several thousand years, it could still be a valuable source of information," reasoned Daniel. He understood Sam's point of view and as much as he wanted to rid the galaxy of another snake, he knew it would be more important to find out what it knew first.

"I want you to hold that option in reserve," ordered Hammond in a brisk tone of voice. "Your priority is to stop the Goa'uld with minimum risk to yourselves."

The phone took the momentary silence to begin ringing. Hammond reached out to pick it up, leaving Daniel to only hear part of the conversation. "Yes... Alright. Thank you..." He hung up and turned his attention back to the group seated at the conference table. "We got a lead on Steven Rayner. He boarded a flight to Cairo four hours ago."

Already thinking of the most likely place he would go, Daniel spoke. "He'll be headed back to the temple in Egypt where the jars were first discovered. If we move fast, we could head him off, sir."

Hammond issued the order. "I'll alert the Egyptian authorities, but this needs to be a low-profile operation. Dr. Frasier will accompany you."

The plane hit the tarmac and coasted to the end of the airstrip. Stepping out into the familiar desert heat, Hermione followed the other passengers into the terminal and then on to customs. Outside the airport terminal she hailed a cab and gave the driver directions to her flat.

She let herself in, threw down her luggage and quickly got out her supplies for desert travel. She had learned in her short time living in Egypt a healthy respect for the hazards involved when she went out into the desert on explorations. Something as simple as a blown tire could strand her miles away from help, in temperatures in the high nineties to the low hundreds, for hours, if not days. Gathering together her survival gear, a first aid kit, a radio, paperwork and her excavation tools Hermione began to load up her Range Rover. After double checking she had all the necessary supplies to fix her car if something broke down, Hermione went back into her flat to get one more item.

Reaching under her bed, she took out a long wooden box and set it on the kitchen table. Inside was a hunting rifle laying next to a simple revolver and several boxes of ammunition. She began to clean and load the weapons with practiced ease. She would never have thought she would own a gun, let alone two, but a lot had changed over the years.

No sooner than she left Britain did Hermione begin to devise ways to overturn the Wizengamot's ruling to be allowed back. For the next two weeks, as her parents helped to arrange her move to Australia with an old family friend and make plans to continue her education, Hermione spent her days sequestered in Viktor Krum's library. On hearing of her trial and subsequent exile, he had shown up at the hostel she was staying at, and insisted she take refuge in his family home. With Viktor's help she was able to gain access to various ancient texts and use his international contacts, from his Quidditch career, to have her case reviewed in other Ministries. It was a risky venture, since treaties with the British Ministry prohibited her from just joining another wizarding community abroad. While she could live in the countries, she could not buy another wand or seek employment as a magical citizen. Over the months she continued her side project until one night five months into her stay in Australia.

The British Ministry knew what she was doing and knew that she was gradually gaining support both at home and abroad. Fearing her intentions if she were allowed to return as the vindicated war hero, the Ministry plotted then slowly let her whereabouts be released to just the right circles. It worked and Hermione came home from school one day to be met by a group of Death Eaters, who had evaded arrest after Voldemort's defeat.

_"Crucio", her nerves were fraying. Oh, Merlin the pain, stop, Stop, STOP! She could almost reach it, just a bit further. _

Flinching at the memory, Hermione continued to methodically clean her weapons. Like her stay in Malfoy Manor, it was a time she wished to forget. The attempted assassination obviously failed, but ultimately proved to be just as effective in preventing her from ever being allowed back into the British wizarding community again. She had proved them to be right, she was dangerous. Her act of self defense had been her undoing.

_Did you see the bodies?...Without a wand...All from good families too. The youngest was just fifteen...All that blood...Have you ever seen anything like it...Definitely a dark artifact... _

The Australian Ministry had sent Aurors for the clean-up and to begin an inquiry. Once the British Ministry was contacted and the identities of the individuals discovered, the blackmail began. It was evident she had acted in self defense, but the rogue Death Eaters had connections very high up in wizarding society; it would have been very dangerous for it to be known she had been the one to dispose of them. Especially the way she had - it was a guaranteed death sentence for herself and possibly her family. It had not made sense to her until that point in time why Snape had left everything he had owned to her, including several borderline dark artifacts such as the one she had used to kill the Death Eaters. In his own way it had been to protect her, possibly having foreseen what would happen to her after the war. To this day she still did not understand his full motive in gifting her with his possessions, except that in a way they were both kindred spirits, having been maneuvered by Dumbledore into roles to protect Harry and get him to that final battle. Perhaps she was his chance of a legacy.

In order for the Ministry to agree to keep her name a secret from the press, she had been forced to drop her efforts to overturn the Wizengamot's ruling. Also, she had been forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement about the deal. It wouldn't look good for the Ministry to be seen as the manipulative bastards they really were. She had not even been able to tell Harry or Ron why she had stopped her campaign to return to the wizarding world.

Finishing her task, she once more checked over the supplies she had placed in the vehicle and started out, following the GPS system out to the site. She was hopeful that even without the amulet she could find a way to open the chamber. People were being killed and she needed to stop this madness before someone else ended up dead.

Trudging through the sand dunes, Daniel felt like he was returning home. He had grown up in Egypt, his parents taking him from one dig to another as a child, and then had spent a vast majority of his time doing internships in the area as an adult. He was also painfully reminded of Abydos, his second home, where he met and then later buried his wife. Daniel could almost imagine that he was there right now, but for the absence of a second sun.

Hearing Janet take a deep breath of exhaustion, he gave her an assessing look. She hadn't had much of an opportunity to go off-world, being stuck on the base hadn't allowed her to gain the experience at hiking long distances as it had for Sam and himself.

Janet gave him a smile of reassurance and commented, "I think I know why this place doesn't get any tourists."

Sam looked up from examining her equipment. "According to the GPS, we've still got another half a mile."

Continuing their walk, they finally came across the opening of the temple and spotted two vehicles parked in front. They had left theirs a way off, wanting to approach on foot and scan the area without alerting anyone to their approach. Carefully looking over the contents, they proceeded with caution.

As they entered the chamber, they were immediately confronted with the sight of Dr. Rayner laying prone on the ground.

Letting Sam and Janet keep their guns trained on the form, Daniel bent over to examine him. Shaking the man, he called out, "Steven."

Remaining at a safe distance, Sam observed, "I'm not sensing anything... He's not a Goa'uld."

Not knowing how to interpret the revelation, Daniel was startled out of his thoughts as Steven began to regain consciousness. "Uhghh."

Daniel tried to get him to focus. "Steven."

"He's bleeding internally," said Janet from his other side, having already dropped her pack and begun to retrieve her medical equipment. "It looks like he was shot."

"Steven, it's me." Once again he tried to get Steven to shift his focus onto him.

"Daniel," replied a confused Steven.

"What happened?" demanded Daniel.

Obviously in a lot of pain, Steven groaned, "Uhhhh, I took the amulet... It s over te-ten thousand years old, so your theory was right all along. Uggghh! I'm sorry."

"Just take it easy, okay, I need you to hold still," interjected Janet as she tried to stop the bleeding from a wound in his stomach.

Seeing that Steven was still agitated, Daniel tried to calm him. "It's okay, she's a friend." Once he was focused again, Daniel continued his questioning. "What about the jar?"

"Huh?"

"The Osiris Jar?" clarified Daniel. "Did you open it?"

"No."

"Why did you come here?" Daniel asked him, confused.

"I figured out the amulet was a key. There's a hidden chamber. I-I wanted to make the discovery. Huhhh."

At Stevens moan, Janet interrupted. "Daniel, we have to get him out of here."

Ignoring Janet for the moment, Daniel kept his gaze locked on Steven. They needed answers. "Steven, who did this to you? Who else is here?"

Grimacing in pain, Steven gripped his hand and pleaded, "I-I'm sorry. Tell her I'm, uhghh."

"Sorry for what? Who did this to you?"

"I did," the metallic voice of a Goa'uld sounded from the shadows of the chamber.

Turning toward the source of the voice, Daniel could not believe his eyes.

"Sarah?"

The form of Sarah Gardner stepped more fully into the light, allowing him to see the yellow glow of Goa'uld possession overtake her eyes. He watched as, before anyone could react, she threw both Sam and Janet into a wall. Continuing her advance toward him, Sarah raised her hand once again, allowing her hand device to hold him immobile, as she replied, "Daniel Jackson... You seem to know much of the Goa'uld. Much more than any other human I have encountered since my awakening. Now, tell me: where is the Stargate?"

This couldn't be happening, not again. First Sha're, now Sarah. Trying to control his raging emotions, he spat out, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He felt a building pain surge through his brain as she employed the hand device. "Insolence... This temple was once filled with worshipers."

Sarcasm dripped through Daniel's words. "Yeah, well, times have changed."

Eyes once again flashing in anger, the Goa'uld snapped back, "So I've observed... Where is my brother Setesh?"

"Uh, you mean Seth? Uh, he's dead. We, uh, we killed him."

"You lie."

Daniel could feel an increase in pain shoot through his skull at the displeasure Osiris had with his answer. "No. No, we also killed Ra, uh, and Hathor, and uh, who else? Um, Sokar."

Osiris gloated, undeterred at his attempt to provoke her. "Then you have done me a great favor. I will rule without opposition."

"No. No, you won't rule at all. You see, we don't worship false gods anymore."

"You have come far, it is true. But you are still weak... Even now you are torn between your desire to kill and your concern for my host... She freed me from my long sleep. What do you know of my Queen?"

Daniel tried to keep his temper in check at Osiris' words. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the abandoned tranquilizer gun Sam had dropped, almost within his reach. He could just about touch it, he just needed to stall a bit more. "Umm, she was trapped, like you. We have the jar."

"Where is it?" demanded the Goa'uld.

He was almost there. "I'm not gonna tell you."

"You are mistaken...Where is my Queen?...Tell me..." Pain burst behind his eyes as she made her disapproval known. Taking the opportunity, Daniel lunged forward to grab the rifle and shot off a dart before she could react. Startled, she stuttered, "What...is this? What have you done?" Obviously feeling the effects of the drug begin to take effect, rage surged through her voice. "You will pay for this impudence...Make...no mistake. Osiris will return. And the rivers of the Earth will run red with blood."

With that warning ringing throughout the room, Osiris pressed a button on her hand device. Transport rings shot up from the floor and she disappeared in a flash of light. Once the light died, Daniel could feel the temple begin to shake and the sounds of a ship taking off could be heard.

Shaking off the effects of her tumble, Sam slowly got up to approach him. "You alright?"

Noticing his disheveled state, he shrugged off her concern; the pain had already dissipated down to a slight headache. "Oh yeah. Yeah. I think I'm getting used to that thing."

"Where's Osiris?" asked Janet, handing him an aspirin, already knowing the routine.

"Gone," replied Sam.

"Steven?" questioned Daniel, focusing back on the injured archaeologist who was still quietly repeating his apologies.

Checking his bandages and vitals Janet confirmed, "If we get him out of here right now I think he'll make it."

"I'll radio it in," said Sam, stepping away to do just that.

"In the meantime I guess we better make up a story to tell him," shrugged Daniel.

Before anyone could comment on his suggestion a faint chuckle could be heard from behind the group. "I take it aliens really exist then."

Startled at the intrusion, the three spun around and took aim. "Dr. Granger!" blurted a shocked Daniel.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Still own nothing. Thank you to all those who have reviewed.

Having opened her eyes only to quickly snap them shut again at the bright light, Hermione tried to once again to pry them open. Blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light, she began to scan the room. The sterile atmosphere and medical equipment surrounding her answered any question she might have had of where she was.

She tried to sit up, grimacing. Her body was obviously weak and her head still felt slightly rattled from Steven's blow, but she managed the task without too much difficulty. For a moment she tried to examine herself to find out what condition she was in. Wiggling toes, flexing her legs, and peeking under her hospital gown convinced her she wasn't seriously injured. Before she could attempt to stand, a nurse entered the room and hustled her back into the bed.

"I need to use the loo. I'm pretty sure that I can manage that," Hermione said, a little irritated with the coddling.

"I'll be happy to help you in just a minute, but I have strict orders to contact the doctor as soon as you're awake. I will be right back," replied the nurse in a calming tone.

Noticing her American accent, Hermione asked, "What orders? And by the way, where am I? Last I remember I was in Egypt, but this doesn't look like a hospital in Cairo…" Once again Hermione took in her surroundings. Where was she? Remembering the alien - was it really an alien? And the firefight in the temple! She did not feel all that safe waking up in a strange hospital, having no idea where she was.

Already walking away, the nurse responded, "You can ask the doctor, please just be patient for a bit."

By the time the doctor arrived, Hermione's unease had increased. Noticing a military presence at her door did nothing to relieve her fear. Before she could begin a well-ordered list of how bad the situation was, a woman in a signature white lab coat strode into the room. It was one of the women who had been in the temple with Dr. Jackson.

Probably noticing her unease, the doctor sent her a reassuring smile. "Hello, I'm Dr. Fraiser. How are you feeling?"

Trying to feel out the situation, Hermione answered with a bit of humor. "Fine, but I would like to know when I can use the loo."

"Don't worry, let me just look you over and the nurse can come back in to help you out." Taking the time to check the chart and monitors, Hermione could feel Dr. Fraiser observing her out of the corner of her eye. Trying to appear at ease, she was not sure if she was successful in fooling the doctor.

In an uninterested tone, Hermione asked, "I was wondering if you could tell me where I am."

She could tell that Dr. Frasier didn't want to tell her too much, but didn't confront her about her evasiveness; she wanted to get as much information as possible before she did anything. "At the moment, you are at the U.S. Military Hospital in Hamburg, Germany." Dr. Fraiser told her. "Someone else will be by a little later to answer more of your questions." And with a quick deflection added, "I'll go get the nurse to help you to the bathroom."

Once the quick trip to the bathroom was accomplished, Hermione was left to wait again. Were they going to lock her up for stumbling upon an obvious military secret? Did they suspect that because she was there, she was an alien as well? Did they have some way to wipe her memories? Cursing her big mouth, Hermione knew that they would not buy that she knew nothing, not after her earlier ramble. Could she have been possessed and not have realized it?

_18 hours earlier _

The flight coming back was made more difficult with the inclusion of Dr. Granger and Dr. Rayner. Janet had sedated them both for transport to the Military Hospital run out of Germany on the same air transport they had used to arrive into Egypt on. Both had needed emergency surgery and were now stable enough to transport to a better facility for recovery and the coming interrogations. It was still unclear to the group what had happened before their arrival at the temple, and they all wanted some answers.

After Osiris had departed, Sam had radioed in their location, obtaining local support to help secure the area and take the archaeologists to the hospital for Janet to continue treatment. While both she and Sam had been tossed around by Osiris and Daniel subjected to a hand device, those injures had been minor compared to the gunshot wounds the two archaeologists had received. It appeared that they had both had injured the other in a firefight and were therefore to be kept separated for safety reasons. At first, it had not been apparent Dr. Granger was injured until the adrenaline had begun to wear away and they did not find Dr. Rayner's weapon until he had been moved onto a stretcher.

Janet and her team had all been staring at the wounded figure of Steven Rayner when Dr. Granger's voice grabbed their attention. "I take it that aliens exist then." Turning, the trio had become aware that they were not alone. Dr. Granger had been standing leaning against the far wall, halfway in the shadow of the entrance into the back corridors of the complex.

After Daniel's shocked revelation of her identity no one had spoken, both parties studying the other. Janet and Sam had kept their weapon trained on the armed figure and let Daniel speak for the group. "Hermione, uh, look, I can explain, but could you put down the gun first?"

The woman seemed to notice for the first time that she was holding a revolver at her side. Giving them an unnerving stare, Dr. Granger slowly let the weapon drop from her fingers and kicked it away as directed by Sam.

The girl had then proceeded to stare at the floor and to talk to herself, ignoring their presence in the room. "...and since you're involved with this, Dr. Jackson, I'm guessing that paper you wrote about the pyramids being built by aliens is true. You must have found proof. Proof that aliens exist and have been to Earth before. But-but they're back." As she babbled, Janet could see that shock was beginning to settle in. "They're back and you lot fight them. Have fought more than one by the sounds of it. Sara-Osiris-whoever mentioned enslavement. An-and Sarah told me she hadn't spoken to you in years, that it was like you had fallen off the face of the planet." Bringing her focus back onto Daniel, she asked, "Did you?"

Trying to soothe the agitated archaeologist, Daniel spoke to her. "Dr. Granger, I know you have questions, but I think it would be a good idea to wait until the shock has settled. That way you'll have a clearer mind, agreed?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Janet could see that Hermione was calming down some. Hermione gave Daniel a contemplative look and replied, "That would probably be best. It's just a lot to take in." Janet could see that the girl was starting to waver, faltering back against the wall. "I think my body agrees with you."

Frowning, she stepped closer to Hermione's position just as she slid down the wall. Rushing over and taking into account the blood running down one side of her face she asked, "Are you alright? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

Janet could see that she was trying to focus unsuccessfully, "I don't believe so." Hermione held her side, replying slowly as the dizziness got worse. "I-I think I hit...my side though."

As Hermione was talking, Janet leaned closer, moving her hand aside to find a mess of blood. She snapped an order at Sam: "Major, I need my med kit. It looks like she's been hurt."

Janet watched as her patient blinked, trying to stay awake, and sunk into oblivion. Quickly cutting away Hermione's clothing, Janet was able to identify that the injury was the entrance wound of a bullet.

What the hell had happened to the girl before they got there?

Doing the best she could to stabilize her patients, Janet prayed that they could get to a hospital in time to save them.

After finishing their preliminary report to General Hammond over a secure line, both Sam and Daniel set about completing their background checks on Dr. Granger. They needed to know if she could be trusted with keeping the knowledge of Osiris a secret, especially since she had already begun to figure out more than they had anticipated. Steven was mostly a non-issue; a simple non-disclosure agreement and threat of jail time would be enough to curb his curiosity. Daniel found that to be immensely satisfying, knowing with Steven's personality he would find the situation unbearable to endure.

However as their background checks on Dr. Granger progressed it had become evident that she was a perfect recruit for the SGC.

According to her file, she was a bright student who had some difficulties as a teen, but overcame them to attend the University of Rome. Graduating in two years with a double major in Egyptology and Occult Studies, and going on to obtain dual PhDs in those same fields. Sam had been curious about the inconsistencies in her formative years, but after a few phone calls they had discovered the reason for her erratic schooling.

For over a year, the entire Granger family had disappeared from the public records.

With Sam's persistent hacking it had become clear that there was no record of their whereabouts during that period. The only explanation they could come up with was the family had been placed into protective custody somewhere. It would be hard to confirm it however, calling the local agents for witness protection would be futile, as it was their policy not to release information on any case, open or closed.

It had not come as quite the shock to then discover that her file had been flagged by MI-6 back in Britain for potential recruitment. They apparently were quite interested in her language abilities and her current employment in the Middle East. Her file had listed twelve languages to her credit, quite an accomplishment for someone so young; Daniel had only mastered eleven at the same age.

Also, anyone who could figure out a way to translate Goa'uld only a few weeks after discovering it would be an asset. Daniel and Sam keep their research up for a few more hours before being told Steven was awake.

The proceeding interrogation about the events leading up to their arrival only confirmed his opinion that Dr. Granger should be offered a place working at the SGC.

Sam was not nearly as convinced as Daniel that Dr. Granger should be recruited. A lot was still unknown about the young doctor. Sam had used all of her computer knowledge to try and find out about the mysterious year the Granger family had disappeared for. She had also taken to calling various officials in England to try and find anyone who could tell her more. After hitting one dead end after another, she resigned herself that the only way she was going to find anything more was to ask the source.

As she entered the hospital room, with Daniel following, she studied the enigma that was Hermione Granger. The archaeologist was sitting up in the bed and appeared to be flipping through a book someone had brought her. Janet had told her that Dr. Granger had been quite guarded earlier, and had been found nervously pacing the room. In an attempt to calm her, one of the nurses had given her a book, as she had refused a sedative. To Sam's eye, Dr. Granger was looking better, considering the bleeding mess she had been back at the temple. She now had a bit more color to her pale complexion; her hair however remained a tangled mess and Sam could see sweat beaded along her brow, betraying the pain she was still in. According to Janet the girl had been shot at close range, but had sustained only minimal damage in her small bowel and liver.

Frowning, Sam began her introduction. "Dr. Granger, my name is Major Samantha Carter of the USAF." Gesturing toward Daniel, she continued, "I believe you already know Dr. Jackson," Hermione inclined her head slightly and Sam continued, "We would like to ask you what you remember of the events which took place at the Stevart site."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

Chapter 9

Gazing into the eyes of the imposing Major, Hermione found it hard not to fidget under the intense scrutiny. She took a calming breath and began a carefully edited recount of her arrival at the temple.

"I arrived at the temple and parked in the back..."

_When she arrived at the temple, she had made sure to circle the complex looking for any sign of others. It was unlikely that anyone was there, but after the last few days she wasn't going to take any chances. She parked in the back to make sure the car could not be seen by any approaching traffic, before making her way inside the complex. _

"...before entering the complex. I explored the main chamber looking for a hidden chamber around the altar. I had noticed in the photos that it appeared to have an indentation which the missing gold amulet would fit into..."

_Arriving in the main chamber, she quickly got out her excavation kit and crouched down at the altar to examine what she suspected to be a keyhole. She closed her eyes and attempted to sense for any magic that might reside inside the stone. She felt nothing, and slowly began to walk around the room, double-checking her previous search to see if she could get a reading anywhere else. _

_By the time she snapped out of her trance-like state, more than a few hours had passed, judging by the position of the shadows in the chamber. Ignoring the beginning of a headache, Hermione crouched in front of the altar once more. She began a closer inspection of the stone, testing a few key points, but could find no seams in the stone where something could be hidden. She wasn't confident enough to attempt opening the altar without the key if she couldn't find where it would be opening. _

"I hadn't made any progress when I heard the sound of a vehicle pulling up to the front entrance. I wasn't sure who it was so I hid..."

_A harsh grating noise startled her. A car had pulled up to the front of the chamber. She hastily gathered her gear and hid in the shadows of the opposite hallway. Stilling her movements, Hermione could hear footsteps slowly approaching. From her position in the shadows, Hermione could just make out the figure of a man entering the room and approaching the altar. She waited to see if anyone else was coming in before sneaking forward. Cocking her rifle, she caught the figure off-guard. _

_She spoke in Arabic. _

_"Don't move."_

_The figure stilled. _

_"Now slowly turn around and keep your hands on your head." _

_He didn't move and she repeated the order. _

_Before she could push him to the ground, the figure began to speak in English with an obvious American accent. _

_"Look, I don't know who you are, but take whatever you want. The key to my car is in the bag. Just please don't shoot." _

_Hermione spoke in English this time. _

_"Turn around slowly and keep your hands on your head and you won't be hurt." _

_Clearly startled at her use of English, the figure whirled around and she saw the surprised face of Steven Rayner. _

_Relief spread across his face once he registered her identity. _

_"Oh, Dr. Granger, thank god it's you, for a moment there I thought you were a robber."_

_Hermione kept her guard up. "What are you doing here?"_

"Once I found out it was Dr. Rayner I remained wary..."

_In an obvious attempt to be charming, Steven tried to explain. _

_"Well now, that is a funny story. I found that missing amulet you were looking for. Once I saw it, it came to me that it looked like a missing piece from one of the pictures you let me look at; a key. I was just so excited that I jumped on a plane to come see for myself if it was true." _

_Hermione was skeptical. _

_"So let me get this straight. You flew halfway around the world to test a theory formulated from a glimpse I gave you of a photo two days ago, without any paperwork to allow you access to this site?"_

_"Well, um, I-" _

_Cutting him off, Hermione continued, "And this has nothing to do with the fact that you have been in possession of the amulet from the very beginning or that my office was ransacked and my computer files stolen?"_

_"I-" _

_"Or that there seem to be bodies showing up at every turn; or is it that the artifact is over 10,000 years old?" _

_Scowling, Steven snapped, "I have nothing to do with those deaths. As to the artifact, I knew the test results and that's why I kept it a secret. It's the find of the century and you obviously came here with the same intentions as I did, so get off your high horse. Listen, I have the amulet. If you put down the gun we can open up the altar and share the find."_

_Giving the doctor a look of loathing, Hermione kept her rifle trained on him. _

_"Listen, I'm not here for any of your petty reasons. Now get out the amulet and open it. Then I__'__m going to take you to the Egyptian authorities for trespassing on this site." _

_Watching him walk over to his pack, Hermione stepped around, following his movements while maintaining a distance. _

"...as I questioned him on why he was there, another vehicle pulled up. Using my momentary distraction, Steven pulled out his own gun and shot me..."

_The sounds of another vehicle pulling up brought her attention back to the front entrance of the temple. As Hermione tried to see who it was Steven used her distraction to pull out a pistol from his bag and got off a shot before she had even registered his actions. The sudden burst of pain staggered her, allowing Steven the chance to disarm her and use the rifle to pistol-whip her across the face. Disoriented, she could just make out the figure of Sarah walking into the chamber. _

"While I was fighting off unconsciousness I could just make out Sarah entering. She and Steven talked, but I couldn't tell what they were saying. Both did approach the altar and open it. I tried to use the diversion to my advantage and got out my handgun from my ankle holster."

_She felt so confused. What was going on? Why was Sarah here? She needed to get help. Being careful to conceal her actions, she freed her revolver from her ankle holster. _

_She stood quietly and took aim at Steven. "Stop!" she barked. _

_Before the word had finished leaving her lips, Steven had already started to make a grab for his gun. Reacting to the danger, she gave a warning shot aimed at his feet. This stilled his motion and Hermione gave Sarah an order. _

_"I want you to carefully disarm him and bring me the gun."_

_Sarah did as told and before Hermione could act, shot Steven. As she turned her weapon on Sarah, Hermione was shocked to see her eyes flash gold. Once again reacting to the perceived threat, Hermione fired and was startled to see the bullets hit an invisible field. Before she could process what had happened, she was sent flying across the room by the unseen force, and blacked out._

"I was disoriented, but managed to get out my second gun and tried to get Sarah to disarm Steven. She shot him and her eyes flashed gold. I panicked and fired, but she did something with the bracelet that stopped the bullets. She then threw me across the room and I passed out. I came to when you lot had arrived and caught your conversation with Sarah-Osiris. Once I knew you weren't a threat I revealed myself, and you know the rest."

After finishing her account, Hermione tried to assess the reactions of the Major and Daniel. Sam still seemed guarded, but Daniel was smiling warmly at her.

"What were your reasons for being at the temple in the first place?" Sam asked her. "As far as anyone knew, you should have still been in Chicago."

Trying not to react to the suspicion in Sam's tone, Hermione answered, "Since Dr. Jorden's death I have noticed the strange happenings which seemed to have plagued the investigation of the collection. The missing amulet, which I discovered Steven was hiding, his apparent fascination with my translations, the mysterious deaths of both the curator and the lab tech, combined with Dr. Jackson's knowledge of the obscure hieroglyphs." Seeing the questioning look both gave at the last point she explained, "I overheard a phone call Daniel made to a Teal'c and his translation of the second jar."

"But how did you recognize that-" began Daniel, but Sam cut him off and gestured for her to continue.

Hermione could tell Daniel was bursting with questions about her apparent ability to understand what she had overheard, and it was a discussion she looked forward to once Major Carter's inquiry was complete.

"I didn't want to bring any additional attention to myself so I kept my observations and research private." Hermione cautiously tried to complete the explanation without mention of magic. It would be very difficult to justify her fears without revealing the main cause behind them. "When I came into the office the morning after the curators death I was already worried, then I found that my office had been ransacked and my computer files stolen. With all that I had observed over the week, I was scared. I didn't know if either Daniel or Steven was behind the break-in. I just knew I had to figure out what was going on."

"Why didn't you call the police?" Major Carter wanted to know.

Hermione shook her head. "I wasn't really thinking, I had no proof and I knew I needed some. I wasn't sure but I knew my research of the temple translations must contain the vital clue. I tried to find out more about the amulet Steven was so interested in and instead found the body of the lab tech. It was cold and I just knew that he must have been killed the night before, and that both Steven and Daniel could have easily done it. I had to get out of there; it wasn't safe. It might have been irrational, but I felt like I was next, like I was being watched." Hermione paused as if to give herself time to gather her thoughts before continuing her account. Studying the reactions she was receiving from her audience to see if they were both buying it, she was met with twin looks of sympathy. She gave silent thanks for her years of lying to everyone she met about her past, enabling her to pull off such a convincing act. "I jumped on the next plane out of the country, I didn't know what else to do. Then once my initial panic abated I began to re-evaluate my research, looking for answers. When I realized that the amulet was a key to the altar, I thought if I could find out what was being hidden I would be able to find the reason for all the deaths." Hermione trailed off and let Daniel and the Major analyze her story. She knew they would want to question her on the details, but she hoped she had convinced them of her alarmed state and wouldn't question her actions too closely.

After a few more questions to clarify her story and Daniel asking a couple more about her research, a relieved Hermione thought that their interrogation was over. She was viciously pulled from that line of thought with Major Carter's next query.

"Dr. Granger, could you please explain your whereabouts and activities from June 1997 to May of 1998?"

Startled, Hermione lay paralyzed, unable to think. Why would they ask her about that year? Did they somehow know she was a witch? They knew about aliens; why not magic? Were they just trying to lead her on?

Not hearing the choking sound of her own voice, Hermione tried to focus on remaining calm. "How?"

Daniel was staring at the heart monitor that, despite her best efforts, remained stubbornly erratic. In an attempt meant clearly to soothe the alarmed archaeologist, he clarified the earlier question. "Hermione, as you have already probably surmised, you have inadvertently stumbled across a highly classified operation. We just need to know if you can be trusted to keep what you have learned to yourself. We ran some routine background checks on you and the small hole in the record for that time period has concerned some of my colleagues. You aren't in trouble and we promise to keep whatever your explanation is classified so you are safe."

Hermione gave Daniel a wan smile, visibly relieved at his explanation. "Alright," she said. It made sense, and she should not have let herself get worked up over a simple question, but of course they would have done a background check, considering the classified nature of their group. The stress of the past weeks must be catching up to her.

She needed to get her head into the game and keep her guard up; knowing her luck she would probably end up being thrown in military prison, accused of terrorist activities if these people thought she might leak what she had discovered. Daniel seemed nice enough, but she couldn't know what other people in the program might do if they felt threatened.

Have her killed in an accident sounded about right.

She took a deep breath and mentally recounted the fabricated tale Percy and Mr. Weasley had helped her to create for just such circumstances. They were both were quite good at falsifying records for the Muggle world after years of working at the Ministry. In order to explain her and her family's lack of records for the year when they had been in hiding and she on the run, a file had been created and placed in the office of an agent dealing with witness protection. A simple memory charm on the agent secured her story an added layer of protection. Other similar measures had been taken by the Weasleys to record her school history for the previous years, but she had still had to complete the final year in Australia to gain a complete understanding of the Muggle subjects.

The key was not to reveal too much and let them make their own inquiries. "My family and I were in the witness protection during that time. I saw something I wasn't suppose to and we spent the next year in hiding. I'm not really supposed to say where…Anyway, the investigation was resolved and we left the program, but the case is still supposed to be classified. I'm sorry, but that is all I can say."

Noticing the pointed look between the pair, she kept quiet and waited for their silent conversation to end. Taking the time to study the Major, Hermione found herself a little shocked to realize just how young she was; her presence and rank had made her seem older. She could tell that the woman was still undecided about her, despite Daniel's obvious acceptance. Despite herself Hermione found that she grudgingly admiring the woman's instincts even if it would make it harder for her to convince the Major of her compliance. Once the silent exchange finished, Major Carter turned her focus back onto Hermione. "Are you aware that your file has been flagged by MI-6?"

Hermione was honestly surprised, and let it show, "What? I haven't had any involvement with that organization." What did MI-6 want with her? By the expression on Major Carters face she had hoped that Hermione had known. "Why is it flagged?"

"According to the information I have, they are interested in recruiting you," informed the Major.

Hearing the underlying suspicion in her voice, Hermione knew this was bad. Here she was in the middle of likely the most highly classified U.S. military secret ever, trying to convince them she could be trusted and they find she is being recruited to be a possible spy. Now they would think she was trying to steal state secrets. Why on earth would the secret service be interested in recruiting her?

Voicing her query aloud, Major Carter answered, "It appears they have taken a keen interest in your language abilities."

She had always been interested in history at Hogwarts and to her displeasure had found that the older texts tended to be in Latin, Gaelic or some other archaic language. It was just in her nature to study the problem, and it wasn't until university that she realized just how many languages she had picked up during her years at school.

French from her primary school which was later expanded by living in Paris; Latin, Gaelic, Welsh, and Celtic runes had been acquired to study the ancient tomes from the library; Italian for school, and Arabic for work; she had also picked up Phoenician, Mycenaean Greek and the various forms of the ancient Egyptian language. Those of which included Hieratic (the priestly writing for scrolls), Demotic (the popular form of writing), the classical and early forms of hieroglyphs.

"I'm sorry, but this is the first I have heard of them having an interest in me." She really hoped they believed her.

For the next half hour the battery of questions from both continued, leaving her breathless. She was forced to explain everything from her ownership of two firearms, her career choice, in-depth questions on her dissertations (Daniel was cut off by Major Carter and redirected back to other topics), to how she paid for university. She patiently explained her concerns about safety while on a dig, how she had always enjoyed history, the exciting world of twelfth dynasty religious cults and their effect on the economic stability of the time or the occult mythology effecting the language of the late Roman Empire, and how her inheritance from an old professor helped to pay for higher education.

Trying to calmly answer their questions was draining what little energy Hermione had, leaving her in more and more pain as the medication slowly wore off. Finally taking notice of her discomfort, Major Carter called for a nurse despite her protests.

As the nurse arrived, Hermione asked the Major, "I would just like to know what is going to happen to me now."

The pair had stood up to leave and let the nurse inject her with a sedative. Seeing that they didn't intend on giving her an answer, she begged, "Please."

Major Carter looked a bit uncomfortable with her plea and replied, "Well, I need to talk to my superiors and well check your story. There's not much I can do until your story is confirmed. I must stress that this is a serious matter and you will need to at least sign a non-disclosure agreement before we allow you to leave. I don't know anything else at the moment, but someone will be by to see you and explain more once you wake up."

After leaving the room, Sam kept quiet until she and Daniel had made their way back to the room they had been assigned. Janet was already waiting for the pair with a frown on her face. "I've just spoken to the duty nurse and she informed me that neither of you are to be allowed to see Dr. Granger if you can't be bothered be conscientious of her health."

They both murmured their agreement under the stern glare of the irate doctor. They hadn't meant to have their questioning of the still-recovering archaeologist take so long, but the puzzle that was Dr. Hermione Granger had distracted them both.

For the next hour they discussed what they had learned of the doctor and debriefed the General in a conference call. Daniel's initial opinion of Dr. Granger seemed to have increased during the questioning, and with the right training he was sure she would make an excellent second in command of the archaeology department, someone to go to if he was occupied elsewhere.

Sam was still skeptical about Daniel's suggestion of recruitment, she just felt that they still didn't know the whole story.

The idea appealed to both Janet and Hammond, who agreed her unique skill set would be great addition to the SGC. Voicing her continuing doubts, Sam was only given the concession of a few days to double-check Dr. Granger's story and background for any irregularities.

_3 days later _

After Daniel and Major Carter had questioned her, Hermione had been left without any visitors except medical personal for the next few days. She still did not know what the final decision would be in regards to her future. She was very nervous that they would somehow find out something about her past. Mentally analyzing the false records and memory charms that Percy and Mr. Weasley had helped plant all those years ago, she could think of nothing that had been overlooked.

Hearing a knock on her door she looked up, expecting another visit by Nurse Brenda to check her monitors but instead saw Daniel, accompanied by a strange officer. The man was dressed in the standard blue uniform and was clutching a briefcase. He looked to be a bit older than Daniel, with brown hair and a serious expression across his face. She shifted uneasily, sitting up straighter to face whatever decision had been made about her fate. A fierce surge of anger shot through her body before she could fully suppress the emotion. Once more she was facing the possibility of a government ripping away her choices because they saw her as a threat. She sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden, she didn't know if she had the strength to fight this time.

Giving her a confused look, Daniel quickly made the introductions. "Hermione, this is Major Paul Davis, he is here from the Pentagon to discuss your situation."

The Major stepped forward. "Dr. Granger, I'm sure you realize that you have stumbled upon a highly classified U.S. military operation. For the past few days your situation has been discussed and a decision has been reached."

He paused, set his briefcase on the end of her bed, and snapped it open. Hermione tensed involuntarily, fearing for a moment he was pulling out a gun to silence her, when she saw a large stack of papers in his hand. "This is our standard non-disclosure agreement that you need to sign. If you disclose anything that you have learned or seen in regards to this operation you will be thrown into prison. Do you understand?"

Slightly confused, she nodded and took the papers to sign. They were going to let her go?

She quickly signed the indicated areas and handed back the pile to the Major, who placed the stack back into his case. An awkward silence hung over the room as the pair continued to stand there not moving. Before she could ask what would be happening now, Daniel moved to stand on the other side of her bed. "How would you like a job?"


End file.
